Brothers in Arms
by Mogo Girl
Summary: When members of a top secret military team that Hawke belonged to in Vietnam start dying off under suspicious circumstances, does it mean that Hawke will be next? And if so, who's out for revenge more than a dozen years later?
1. Chapter 1

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

_Summary: When members of a top secret military team that Hawke belonged to in Vietnam start dying off under suspicious circumstances, does it mean that Hawke will be next? And if so, who's out for revenge more than a dozen years later?_

**Chapter 1**

Stringfellow Hawke sat in Michael Coldsmith-Briggs', aka Archangel," office at Knightsbridge staring at the black and white photo that the spy had just handed him. Looking at the six soldiers in the photo, Hawke's mind was flooded with memories of Vietnam and things he hadn't allowed himself to think about for many years. As if war itself hadn't been bad enough, the covert missions that the men in that picture had undertaken had left even more scars on the minds and hearts of those six men who, in reality, were merely more than boys at the time. Hawke knew because he had been one of them. There was also St. John, or "Sinjin" as he was known, Hawke's brother, as well as four others: Billy Cargill, Sam Hansen, John Tomlinson and Max Holden.

"All of them?" Hawke finally asked as he looked back up at the spy who was patiently standing by the window as Hawke studied the photo. He knew that the information he had just given the pilot would be a lot to digest.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Michael said as he nodded. "Cargill was the latest, supposedly committing suicide just four days ago in his home. He hung himself. I'm sorry, Hawke."

"You said 'supposedly'. What's that mean, Michael? He either killed himself or he didn't," Hawke challenged.

Coming back over to his desk, Michael sat down and picked up another file on his desk and began to thumb through it. "At first, it did seem pretty clear cut. Cargill had left a note saying that he felt guilty because he had been embezzling money from the investment company he'd been working for. The note even led police to a safety deposit box containing a large amount of cash and documents showing how he'd siphoned off the funds. "

"Billy? I don't believe it!" Hawke stated emphatically.

"Yeah, well either did anyone else, and the family demanded an investigation. Since Cargill had been part of this Special Ops team, the investigation flagged a few files within The Firm and we started looking into things as well. That's how I found about the other deaths.

"And?" Hawke prompted as he sat forward in his chair.

"And…we found that within the last year, Hansen, Tomlinson and Holden all died and each death seemed to be connected to some type of illegal activity. Hansen was found dead in an alley, a needle full of heroin still stuck in his arm. Tomlinson was shot by security while trying to break into a warehouse full of computer equipment and Holden also killed himself after being accused of the rape of a co-worker, leaving a signed confession as his suicide note."

"That's all bullshit, Michael, and you know it! Each of those men was among the best and most honest men I'd ever known! And each one of them had been willing to give their lives for this country!" Hawke exclaimed as he stood from his chair and leaned over the desk, getting face to face with the spy. "And don't you think that each of those deaths was tied up just a little too neatly?"

"Hawke, if you'll calm down long enough to let me explain, you'll see that I already figured that out," Michael said calmly as he waited for the pilot to retake his seat. "Look, it's why I called you here to tell you about it. Because of the Vietnam connection and because of the fact that each one of these men has now been denied military honors for their burial due to the circumstances of their deaths, I have to believe that someone is out for revenge on all of you. Of course, that also means with Sinjin still MIA, I believe that you're going to be the next target on the list. Now I need your help to find out who the hell may be behind all of this and for what reason."

Hawke stared at the man across from him and then stood and walked over to the large picture window that covered the back wall of the office. Facing away from Michael, Hawke spoke quietly, "that means you want to know about a lot of stuff that we did that I promised myself I would never talk about again. We were working against some of our own men, Michael. Yeah, they may have been handing over military strategy to the other side but they were still our own guys, it wasn't easy. We had been trained to fight the North Vietnamese, not our own troops."

"Look, Hawke, I understand that and I'm sorry but for your own safety, I need your cooperation on this. Other than the fact that such a team existed, I've got nothing. The specifics of the missions are so highly classified that even I can't get clearance to them. I've put some feelers out to some government sources and no one's talking. Hawke, you're the only one that can give us the information we need on this. You're the only one left that knows what really went down within that team."

Hawke stood silent for a few more moments before turning to face the man in white. "Okay, but not here, not now. I need some time. Meet me up at the cabin tomorrow night. But only you, Michael, understand? I'll be the one to decide what gets done and who gets brought into this, and that includes Dom and Caitlin. Any problem with that and you can forget the whole thing and I'll take care of it on my own."

"However you want it to go, Hawke, but if you think you're going to be able to keep Dom and Caitlin out of this….well, I'll let you deal with them. "

Without saying another word, Hawke turned and left the office.

_TBC…._

_Okay everyone, I've had this plot bunny running around in my brain for quite a while but just haven't been able to flesh it out as well as I wanted. Instead of waiting any longer I thought I would start it and hope that the muse is inspired as I write. Let's see what happens _


	2. Chapter 2

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 2**

After leaving Knightsbridge, Hawke had had every intention of heading straight back to his cabin. However, something kept tugging him back towards the Santini Air hangar and Dom and Cailtlin. Actually, he knew exactly what, or more precisely whom, that 'something' was – Caitlin O'Shannessy. Over the last several months, a new relationship had been forming between the two of them, something definitely more than friendship. It had been difficult for Hawke to admit that he had those kinds of feelings for the redhead at first, but once he did and allowed himself to go forward with them he had found himself happier than he had been in a long time.

Of course, Caitlin had made it clear from the beginning that if they were going to be a couple then String would have to be more willing to open up to her and let her be a part of whatever he was going through. Hawke's natural instincts had always been to fight his demons alone and allowing someone else in was never easy but Caitlin had proven as hard-headed as he was and had made it clear that if he kept shutting her out than any relationship between them would be out of the question. So, as much as he wanted to keep this latest trouble from the two people closest to him, he knew that wasn't really an option.

Turning into the airfield at Van Auys, Hawke pulled the jeep up to the front of the open hangar. He sat in the driver's seat for a few minutes and smiled as he watched Caitlin wagging a finger at Dom as she followed him through the hangar carrying a stack of evidently unpaid invoices.

"Dom, if we don't start collecting on some of these, we're all going to go bankrupt. I just don't understand why you let these customers get so behind on their payments!" Caitlin chastised as Dom stopped and turned to look at her.

"Look, Cait, I talked to them. They say they're going to pay, what else do you want me to do?" he asked in exasperation.

"Dominic Santini, you know what you're problem is? You're just too darned nice!" Caitlin said as she put her hands on her hips.

"And that's such a bad thing? Seems to me, we could all use with a little more nice around here!" Dom countered.

Hawke chuckled at the bickering as he got out of the jeep and removed his sunglasses. Walking into the hangar, he was almost accosted by Dom. "String! So glad you're back. I think we have some work to do on the Stearman, don't you? Sorry, Cait, we'll have to talk about this later, String and I have things we have to do right now, don't we, String?" Dom said as he gave String a pleading look with his eyes.

"Oh no you don't, Dominic Santini!" Caitlin said. "You're not getting out of this that easy. I've been trying to get you to go over these books for a week now! Hawke don't you dare get him out of this!"

Hawke took a few steps back and lifted his hands in surrender. "Hey, keep me out of this. It's between you two." Stepping around Dom, Hawke went and stood next to Caitlin and slid his arm around her waist. "You know you sure are cute when you're angry, though" he said with a smile as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey that's no fair, you're fraternizing with the enemy!" Dom said even though he couldn't help but smile a little at the interaction between the two. Nothing had made him happier than when String had finally admitted his feelings for Caitlin. Dom had known from the minute they first met that those two had been made for each other.

Looking over at String, Caitlin just realized that he had been gone for quite a while. "So, where have you been anyways?" she asked.

"Actually I need to talk to both of you about that. Michael called me earlier with some news about some old buddies from Vietnam he thought I needed to know about. "

"Anything wrong, kid?" Dom asked suddenly concerned knowing that news from String's Vietnam days was seldom good.

"Could be but let's not talk about it here, okay? Dom, Caitlin was coming up to the cabin tonight for the weekend, why don't you join her? I'll let you guys in on everything then."

"Sure, kid," Dom agreed beginning to sense that there was more to this than String may be letting on.

"Why don't we just go now?" Caitlin asked.

"I've got a few things to check out before heading up that way, Cait. How bout you and Dom head up there and I'll meet you there in a couple of hours?"

"Hawke?" Caitlin said in a warning tone, showing that she, too, had figured out that things were probably more serious than Hawke was implying.

"Hey, I promise I'll tell you guys everything when I get there. Trust me, huh?" He said as he looked straight into Caitlin's blue-green eyes.

After a few seconds, Cailtin nodded her head. "Of course," she said with a smile. "Anyways, that will give Dom and I a little time to go through a few of these invoices. Right, Dom?"

"Oh, Mamma Mia! I give up. Thanks a lot, String!" Dom said as he hung his head and followed Caitlin into the office.

With another chuckle, Hawke replaced his sunglasses and headed back out towards the Jeep.

_TBC…._


	3. Chapter 3

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 3**

Several hours later, Hawke walked into the cabin to the welcoming aroma of Dom's famous spinach lasagna and a warm fire burning in the fireplace. He had to smile as he heard Dom humming some off-key, random tune as he tended to various pots and pans on the stove. Glancing over towards the hearth he saw Caitlin sitting in his favorite chair reading a book with a half-empty glass of red wine beside her and Tet, Hawke's blue tick hound, at her feet. While usually quite the loner, String thought to himself that a man could get used to coming home to this.

"Gee, too bad you guys couldn't make yourself at home," he teased as he hung his leather flight jacket up on the hook just inside the doorway. Walking towards Caitlin he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head as he passed by and headed for the open bottle of wine on the counter and poured himself a glass.

"Hey, su casa is mi casa, String," Dom teased back as he pulled the makings for a salad from the refrigerator. "Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes."

"I hope you're hungry, Hawke," Caitlin said as she closed her book and turned in her chair. "I think Dom thought the whole population of LA County was coming for dinner. There's enough lasagna for an army!"

"Hey there little lady, it wouldn't hurt either you or the kid there to eat an extra plate or two…you're both skinny as rails. A little meat on those bones would do you good!" Dom said with one of his famous "hmmph's" as he turned his attention back to the stove.

"Yeah, well maybe we'll eat your extra plate, Dom…a little less meat on those bones of yours might be a good idea before we have to order you another flight suit!" Hawke shot back with a mischevious grin and a wink at Caitlin.

"Hey! This ain't meat, this is all muscle!" Dom said as he patted his rotund belly.

"Sure, Dom," Hawke chuckled as he went and sat on the hearth next to Caitlin and reached down and rubbed Tet between the ears.

For the next few minutes, everything was quiet as Dom finished up his dinner preparations and Cait and Hawke enjoyed the ambience of the fire. Studying Hawke's face in the firelight though, Caitlin could tell that there was concern underneath the teasing exterior he had just displayed.

"Everything okay, Hawke?" she asked as she leaned forward in her chair and put a gentle hand on his arm.

"No, I don't think it is, Cait. But why don't you and I go and set the table and then I'll tell Dom and you everything over dinner, okay?"

"Sure," she said as she patted his arm and then got up and headed towards the kitchen. Caitlin knew the pilot well enough to know not to push too hard. He would tell them, but in his own time.

Within a few minutes, the table was set and dinner was served and the three sat down to a candle lit table to eat. Over lasagna and wine, Hawke proceeded to tell Dom and Caitlin everything that Michael had shared with him that morning.

"Hawke, I know they were all your friends and good men when you knew them but it was a long time ago. People can change and we all know that war can leave some really big emotional scars. Are you sure that these guys didn't just take a wrong path once they got home?" Caitlin asked as she finished her dinner and pushed her plate out of the way.

"I thought about that, too, Cait and if it were just one or two of them, I might have bought it. But all four? That's too big of a coincidence for me. Still, I went and saw Sam Roper when I left the hangar this afternoon," Hawke explained as he poured himself another glass of wine. "Sam knew Billy Cargill and Max Holden and had kept in periodic touch with both of them over the years. According to Roper, neither one would have been the type to commit suicide , much less commit the crimes they were implicated in. And I can tell you that neither Tomlinson nor Hansen struck me as the criminal type either. Michael is checking into their backgrounds but so far there's nothing to support that kind of lifestyle. If anything, he's finding the complete opposite. They were all family men who had done pretty well for themselves after 'Nam."

"So that brings us back to this Special Ops team you were all a part of," Dom reasoned. "What can you tell us about it, String?"

Getting up from the table, Hawke carried his wine glass over to the hearth where he set it on the mantle and took a poker to the fire as he thought about his answer.

"You know, Dom, there's a lot of things I don't talk about when it comes to Vietnam. Some of it is because I just don't want to think about it anymore and some of it, like this team, are because I couldn't. What we were recruited to do was nothing short of illegal if you looked at the Rules of War but yet our own government was the one sending us in. We were six young and naïve guys hand- picked because we were good at what we did but yet those we were sent to take out wouldn't have suspected us as counter intelligence agents. I think we each agreed because we were too young and stupid to realize what they were really asking us to do."

"And what exactly was that, String?" Dom asked cautiously prodding the younger man.

Sighing, Hawke took a long sip of his wine before turning his gaze back towards Caitlin and Dom. "We were charged with taking down, and when needed, taking out, American soldiers suspected of handing over military strategy and intelligence to the Viet cong or Communists. We thought we were doing the right thing, you know? However, it was years later that we learned that a lot of the intelligence we were receiving on the suspected spies was faulty itself. Chances are, we took out several Americans who had done nothing wrong."

"Mamma Mia," Dom said under his breath.

"Oh, Hawke!" Cait gasped as she realized the implications of what he had just said. "But you were only acting on the information that the government gave you! You know you're not to blame, right?"

"Yeah, eventually we came to understand that but it doesn't make it any easier. Nam was a different time and place, a different world and I guess I've just done my best to convince myself that in war things happened that were beyond my control. Doesn't mean it doesn't tear at my gut every time I think about it though. I'm sure it was the same with the others. "

"But like you said, String, they all moved on with their lives and had done well," Dom consoled.

"Yeah," Hawke agreed quietly as he turned back towards the fire. "But now it seems as if someone's back for revenge and it might be justified. The problem is though that they not only want us dead but evidently they're trying to smear our names by making sure we die under circumstances under which the military will no longer recognize us. For someone who fought in any war, not being able to be buried with military honors is one of the worst things that can happen for them and their families. It's a way to dishonor them. "

Suddenly turning angry, Hawke threw his wine glass into the fire, shattering it into a thousand pieces. "I can't let that happen! These men, they gave everything they had to their government and for that damned war. They don't deserve to have this be their legacy!"

Caitlin stood up from the table and crossed over to Hawke. Slipping her arms around him she pulled him close and held him. "Don't worry, Hawke, we'll figure out who's responsible and we'll set things straight. I don't know how, but we will."

"She's right, kid. We'll do whatever you need us to," Dom concurred.

"Thanks," Hawke said as he gave Caitlin a quick kiss and pulled her close to his side. "Michael will be here tomorrow night with whatever he's got. I suggest we all stay here tonight until we hear what he says. It's probably the safest place to be."

"Just try and make us leave," Cait said with a smile.

_TBC…._


	4. Chapter 4

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

_A/N: The muse took over and demanded a little passion so the first part of this chapter gets a little steamy. After that, back to our story but somehow I don't think most of you will mind. _

_A/N: I had rated thus whole story "M" for this chapter but have changed it back to "T" so that it shows up in __most feeds so those who haven't officially followed can still find it. Just know that this is probably an "M" rated chapter so if you don't want to read that then skip to the second half of the chapter. Overall, however, its pretty mild and i tried to keep it in good taste. Thanks. _

**Chapter 4**

After dinner, Dom encouraged Hawke and Caitlin to take a walk around the lake while he cleaned up the supper dishes. Upon their return they found Dominic snoring peacefully in the armchair that Caitlin had vacated earlier. Covering him up with a blanket and stoking the fire, Hawke and Cait then headed up to the bedroom/loft.

Hawke built another fire in the upstairs fireplace as Caitlin took a quick shower. Coming out of the bathroom with nothing more than a towel wrapped around her as she used another to dry her hair, Hawke motioned for her to join him in large leather chair he had in front of the fireplace.

"Hawke, I'm all wet," she giggled as he pulled her down into his lap.

"That's all right, the fire will dry you off" he said as he playfully tugged at her towel.

Slapping his hand away, Caitlin struggled to keep the towel in place. "Hawke! Dom's right downstairs…you don't really think I'm going to do anything with him so close by, do you?"

"I've been trained in stealth operations and besides, he sleeps like a rock," he countered back with a cocked eyebrow and a mischevious grin. "Anyways, it's your own fault for coming out of the bathroom like that. How am I supposed to resist?" Pulling her closer he nibbled at her neck and was only encouraged by the light scent of the strawberry shampoo she had just used.

"Mmmm, Stringfellow Hawke, you're horrible," Caitlin said with very little conviction as she let herself be drawn in by his loving attentions. Before long the towel had fallen to the floor and sat in a heap along with most of String's clothing. "You know, Hawke, there's a perfectly good bed right over there," Caitlin managed to mumble between passionate kisses.

Positioning her so that she was straddling him in the chair, Hawke gave her an evil smile. "I'm fine right here," he said as he began to trail kisses down her neck and between her breasts. "God, your beautiful, Caitlin," he said as he entered her and their bodies began to move in synchronized motion.

It wasn't long before Caitlin threw back her head and bit her lip to keep from screaming out Hawke's name as she felt Hawke reaching the point of no return and her own ecstasy build to an amazing apex. When it was over she fell forward in his arms and laid her head against his as she attempted to bring her heart rate back to a normal pace. Hawke smiled as his steel blue eyes met her blue green orbs and he reached up and caressed her freckled cheek. "I love you, Cait," he whispered as he stood with her still wrapped around him and carried her over to the bed. As he laid her gently down on the sheets, she returned the sentiment with an "I love you," of her own as he started the love-making process all over again.

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

Several hours later as Caitllin lay sleeping curled up next to Hawke, her arms wrapped securely around his chest, Hawke lay still staring at the flickering play of light from the fire on the ceiling. Dreams of events long ago in Vietnam had woken him an hour earlier. Next to him, Caitlin moaned softly as she repositioned herself in her sleep. Looking at the woman in his arms he wondered how he'd gotten so lucky. Caitlin O'Shannessy had been everything he had ever been looking for…a caring, sexy, adventurous, self-reliant woman that wasn't afraid to put String in his place when he needed it. For reasons he had yet to fathom, this woman seemed to understand and accept everything he was without question. Finally he had thought he had found the happiness he had been searching so long for.

But once again that happiness was being threatened and by things that had happened so long ago, way before he even knew that Caitlin O'Shannessy existed. And much to his surprise, it wasn't Caitlin's safety that he was worried about, it was his own. For so long, Hawke had resisted acting on his own feelings for Caitlin because of his belief in his 'curse', a belief that everyone he cared for was taken away from him. As he had once told Gabrielle in this very room, others didn't have to damn him because God already had.

But now the tables had turned and someone was coming directly after him. Maybe he was being damned after all, maybe this was some God's idea of a cruel joke. Let him finally find happiness then pull the rug out from under him once again in a way he least expected. It would be his own death and what he knew he would be leaving behind that would be his punishment. "Dammit all to hell" he swore under his breath. Why couldn't things ever be easy for him?

"Hawke?" Caitlin asked sleepily as she raised her head.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't mean to wake you," he said softly as he brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"Hawke, what's wrong?," Cait asked with concern as she propped herself up on one elbow. "You were having those dreams about Vietnam again, weren't you?" Caitlin had spent enough time with Hawke over the last few months to know that the nights were always the hardest for him. He didn't talk about his time in the war much but she had heard him cry out in his sleep more than once. "Talk to me, String. Tell me about your dream," she coaxed. It had taken a long time to convince him but String had finally learned that if he would talk about his dreams to her afterwards, it would often help.

"I kept seeing Billy and Sinjin and the others. The images were all jumbled though. They were reaching out to me and asking me to help them and I couldn't get there. And then I heard a shot and realized that I was the one that had been hit and then….", a tear rolled down his face and he couldn't continue.

"C'mon, String, just tell me," she encouraged as she leaned over and tenderly kissed his cheek.

Softly, he finally continued, "and then I saw you, standing over my grave. Caitlin, I'm so sorry,"  
he said as he suddenly pulled her in and held her tightly, afraid to let her go.

"Hawke, I'm right here. It was just a dream," she reassured him. "I promise you, we're going to find out who's doing this and we're not going to let anything happen to you or any one of us. Nobody's going to be standing over anyone's grave…not for a very long time."

"What did I do to deserve you?" He said as he lifted her chin and looked in her eyes.

"You saved my life if I remember correctly, kind sir," Caitlin said back with a smile. "And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that means I'm indebted to you forever."

"Oh yeah…forever, huh?" Hawke asked with a slight laugh. "That's a really long time. You think you can put up with the likes of me for that long?"

"Well it's a dirty job but I think I'm up for it," she said as she poked him lightly in the side.

"I hope so, Cait, I hope so," he said as he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

_TBC…_

_Okay, so I'm not really sure where that whole interlude came from but the muse just takes over and these things happen. We'll get back to our plot line next chapter…I promise. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 5**

By the time that dawn broke at the cabin, String was awake and out cutting more firewood for the day. H e really didn't need to cut any more but the pure physical labor and being outdoors always soothed his soul. Soon after, Dom was awake and stirring up a hearty breakfast in the kitchen while Caitlin was out taking Tet for a walk.

After breakfast, Hawke had hooked up the satellite phone he kept at the cabin and called Michael to give him the details of the Special Ops teams missions, just as he had told Dom and Caitlin the night before. The three had decided that the more information the spy had the better, giving him an opportunity to do some more research before coming up to the cabin that night.

By early afternoon, the three found themselves on Hawke's boat in the middle of the lake fishing for what would be that night's supper. Caitlin was the first to speak of the reason they were all at the cabin.

"Hawke? I've been thinking and there's something about this whole thing that I can't figure out," she said as she dropped her lure back in the water.

"What's that?"

"Well, from what you've told us about these men, your friends, they were all pretty level-headed guys. I can understand if someone murdered them and set them up to look guilty like Tomlinson and Hansen…but what about Cargill and Holden? I mean, they both committed suicide. How do you make someone do that if they really don't want to?"

"Yeah, String, that's kind of been bothering me, too," Dom chimed in from the other side of the boat. "These guys had wives and kids, right? I can't imagine them committing suicide and leaving them behind like that with no insurance or anything. I didn't know them but I know you and I know you wouldn't do anything like that, no matter what the problem was."

Hawke glanced over at his boatmates, one eyebrow cocked, as he thought about what they said. He knew that neither man was the type to commit suicide but he hadn't actually thought about the method of making someone do that.

"You know, that's a good question and something we should present to Michael tonight. You're right, Dom, neither Max nor Billy were the type of men that would do that, even under the pressure they must have been feeling. I have to believe they didn't make that decision on their own."

"Maybe they were drugged or something," Caitlin suggested as she thought out loud. "We all know that with the right kind of drugs we can be made to do things we'd never think of doing otherwise," She said knowing that both men would get the subtle reference to John Horn and how he had drugged and brain-washed Hawke into shooting Dom.

"Yeah," Hawke said simply, effectively ending the conversation for several minutes.

Again, Caitlin was the one to break the silence. "So did Michael give you any indication of when they thought whoever this was might come after you, Hawke? I think I could deal with an enemy that I can see but this waiting and not knowing is going to drive us all crazy."

"Maybe that's part of his plan," Dom suggested.

"Maybe," Hawke agreed. "It doesn't seem like this guy's in any real hurry, though. Hansen was the first killed and that was well over a year ago according to Michael so this guy seems to be taking his time."

"He was probably hoping that if he spread them apart, the connection between all of you wouldn't be made and they'd just seem like random deaths," Caitlin reasoned.

"And if he still doesn't know that we're onto him then he might not be in any hurry to get to me either," Hawke said as he pulled his hook out of the water and re-baited it before dropping it back into the lake. "But I'm with you Caitlin, I don't think I want to sit around just waiting for something to happen. Maybe we can come up with a way to draw him out sooner."

"Now you're talking, kid!" Dom said. "Let's just hope the Spotless Wonder can come up with something so we can figure out who this guy is."

_TBC.._

_A short chapter so I apologize. The muse is a little foggy on exactly how to proceed from here so I'm just taking it a little at a time as we progress. I'll try to update soon. Thanks for all the follows and reviews. Keep 'em coming and help inspire the stubborn muse. She needs a little push every now and then __Thanks. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 6**

That night after supper, Caitlin and Hawke were sitting on the front porch when they heard The Firm's chopper rounding the mountain and flying in over the lake. Hawke kept his arm wrapped around Cait's waist as the two watched the chopper land and as Michael disembarked and walked up the path to the cabin.

"Hawke, Caitlin," Michael said with a slight tip of his hat. "I'm going to assume that Dominic is inside?"

"I'm here, Michael," Dom announced as he appeared in the open doorway, a can of beer in his hand.

"Good. Let's get inside."

"You've got news?" Caitlin asked as she and Hawke followed the spy into the cabin.

"Yes, and you're not going to like it, " Michael informed them as he headed straight for the whiskey decanter on the bar and poured himself a drink.

"I seldom like your news, Michael. So just spit it out and get it over with," Hawke said as he took his place behind the chair Caitlin had just sat in, keeping a hand on her shoulder. He seemed to sense that whatever Michael had to say, it was not going to be good and he needed to keep contact with Caitlin to keep himself grounded. In response, she reached up and took a hold of his hand as they waited for Michael to speak.

Finally, the spy turned and addressed the small but attentive group. "There's been another attack on the team."

"What are you talking about? The other four are already dead and I'm right here," Hawke said in confusion.

"You're forgetting one member of the team, Hawke. Your brother, St. John."

"Sinjin? You've had contact with Sinjin? You better explain yourself and fast, Michael!" Hawke reacted, his eyes turning to slits and focusing directly on the man across from him.

"Well if you'll give me a chance, Hawke," Michael said as he finished off the whiskey in his glass in one gulp and placed the glass back on the bar. "And, no, I haven't had contact with Sinjin."

"Then what the hell?" Dominic interjected.

"Earlier today a package was received at the Pentagon. It was addressed to the head of the Central Identification Laboratory, the government agency in charge of MIAs and POWs."

"Yeah, so what was in it?" Dominic impatiently prodded.

"I don't have all of the details but basically it supposedly has information showing that St. John Hawke was never an MIA or POW but instead was actually a counter agent working for the Vietcong."

"What!?" Hawke raged as Caitlin quickly stood and came around to his side.

"Hawke, give Michael a chance. I have a feeling he has more to tell us, don't you, Michael?" Caitlin said as she looped her arm through Hawke's.

"Thank you, Caitlin, and yes, I do have more. Once I received this information I put a call into General Harrrington at the CIL. I gave him all of the information about the rest of the Special Ops team and what's been happening and told him I felt that this was a further attempt to smear the team's good name and military records. He agreed that this sounded like it could be a part of that and that he would check further into the information he received. He admitted that up until now, there had been nothing to link your brother to any subversive activities, Hawke."

"You're damn right there hasn't, because it's impossible!" Hawke said as he picked up a poker and took his frustrations out on the fire. "And what the hell is this 'information' they received anyways?"

"I wish I could tell you," Michael said as he took a seat in one of the bar stools. "While Harrington was sympathetic, he was also being very closed mouthed about the whole thing. I can tell you he was pretty surprised when he found out that I knew about the nature of the team's missions. While I think the General will give us what help he can, I have a feeling that Washington is going to put a clamp on things pretty quickly. From what you told me, this isn't the kind of information they are going to want to get out."

"I don't give a damn about what Washington wants, Michael. What are we going to do about finding the bastard behind all of this? I'm not going to let them take Sinjin's good name down. Hell, it's all he's got left right now!" Hawke quickly turned away from the group, his emotions getting the better of him.

"Hawke, I promise you, I'm doing everything I can. I've got my best people running through every top secret file they can get their hands on before Washington can shut them out. But in the mean time, I'm going to need your help."

"Just tell us, Michael," Dom said.

"Hawke, I know this is not going to be easy but I need to know any names, places, events…anything you can remember that was related to any of those missions. You get me the information and I'll run them through the computers. Maybe we can come up with something that way."

Everyone was silent as they waited for String to respond. After several minutes he turned back around and spoke. "Okay, Michael, I'll give you what I can but I need some time to remember and collect my thoughts."

"Unfortunately, Hawke, time isn't something we have too much of but I can give you until tomorrow morning." Getting up from the stool he had been perched on, Michael came over to the younger man. "Meet me in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00 with whatever you've got. In the mean time, I'll keep my teams working round the clock." With that the spy put a comforting hand on Hawke's shoulder for just a second and then walked out of the cabin and back to his chopper.

Shortly after the copter lifted off, Hawke headed for the door himself. "I need some air," he said as he grabbed his jacket off the hook and walked out.

"Is he going to be okay, Dom?" Caitlin asked as she watched Hawke leave. She wanted so badly to follow but she also knew that Stringfellow Hawke was a man that needed time to himself to process things and she could respect that.

"Yeah, sweetheart, he'll be fine. Just give him some time. When he comes back, he'll be ready to do whatever he has to do."

_TBC…._

_A/N: The CIL was a real agency dealing with MIAs. Beyond that I don't know if it was based at the Pentagon or if it was run by a General or anything else. Taking my liberties again, so please don't be too harsh on historical accuracy. Thanks!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 7**

"Caitlin, I'm going to take the chopper back to Van Auys. Why don't you stay here with, String?" Dom said as gathered up his coat and cap.

"Dom, you don't have to do that," Caitlin said as she followed Dom to the door. "String doesn't ever mind you being here, you know that."

"I know, honey, but he's got a lot on his mind and I have a feeling it's going to be a long night for him. I know how he hates dredging up some of those old memories and it's going to be even harder for him if he has an audience, even me."

"Maybe I should go back with you too, then," Caitlin suggested.

"No, honey, you're the one person in the world he needs right now. Having you here will keep him focused on what's important and if things get bad, well I know you can take care of him. I've never seen him respond to anyone like he does to you, Cait. You're the best thing that's ever happened to that boy," Dom said with a grin as he reached over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Take care of him, huh? And I'll be back around 9:00 a.m. to pick you guys up."

"Okay, Dom. And don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him," Caitlin said as she watched Dom head out the door towards the chopper on the dock.

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

Thirty minutes later, Hawke walked back into the cabin, Tet close on his heels. "Was that Dom I saw leaving?" he asked as he came and sat down next to Caitlin on the couch where she had been reading.

"Yeah, he wanted to go back to the hangar tonight. He said he'd be back in the morning to pick us up." Putting down her book, Cait pulled her legs up underneath her and turned so that she was facing Hawke. "So how was your walk?" she asked, both knowing full well that there was much more behind that question then wanting to know about any stroll he may have taken around the lake.

Turning his blue eyes towards Cait, Hawke reached up and stroked her hair. "Lonely." The answer seemed to surprise both of them. Hawke had always been one for solitude but ever since he and Caitlin had started dating, he couldn't believe how much he missed her when they were apart. Never before had he actually wanted to talk to someone about things that were bothering him like he wanted to with Cait. His first instinct in the past had always been to run as far away from others as possible. It was actually a set of feelings and emotions he was still trying to get used to.

"Well, you knew where to come back and find me," she said as she smiled back at him. "You know I'll always be here waiting for you."

"I'm beginning to really believe that, Cait, although for the life of me I'm not really sure why you would want to put up with all of this when you don't have to," he said as he stared back into the fire.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I love you?"

"Is it really that easy, though, Cait? Is that enough?"

"Yes, String, it is enough when it's a real love," Caitlin explained as she grabbed his hand and he turned his gaze back towards the pretty red head. "Don't you know that there's nothing I wouldn't do for you? And that there's nothing you can do or say that's going to drive me away from you? I knew what I was getting into from the moment you guys hired me at Santini Air and we had that whole mess with Holly. And, goodness knows, there's been plenty of other things since then. Don't you think that if this…if YOU weren't what I wanted, that I would have been gone a long time ago?"

Leaning in, Hawke hooked his arm around the back of Caitlin's neck and pulled her in for a passionate kiss as his answer. When they were finished, Hawke pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I hope you don't ever leave me, Cait," he said in a hoarse whisper. " I don't think you understand how much I really need you. I'm just so sorry it took me so long to realize that."

"Well you know what they say…good things come to those who wait," she said with a sparkle in her eyes.

For the next hour the two sat cuddling on the couch, very few words passing between them but their touch never breaking. Just the closeness seemed to calm them both. Finally Caitlin convinced Hawke that he would need to get something together for Archangel in the morning and the two got to work. Hawke would relate stories to Caitlin about the missions and she would write them down keeping track of dates, names and places as best as Hawke could remember them. Every so often he would stumble on a particularly bad memory and Caitlin would get up and just hold him or they would take a break for a few minutes and walk together outside in the moonlight. Eventually she was always able to steer him back to the task at hand.

By the early morning hours, they had gathered any and all information that Hawke could remember. Now they could only hope that contained within those memories was something that the spy could use to find the person responsible for all of the horrible things that had been happening.

Taking Caitlin by the hand, Hawke led her up the stairs to the loft where they spent the rest of the night making love, their bodies silhouetted by the moonlight shining through the window.

_TBC…._

_A/N: I have no idea why but something seems to be bringing the romantic out in me on this story but I'm kind of enjoying the little interludes between Hawke and Cait. The muse must be in love…lol. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 8**

The next morning found Dom, Cait and Hawke all in Archangel's office at precisely 10:00 am as planned.

"What did you come up with, Hawke?" Michael asked from behind his desk as he took a sip of coffee.

Cait stood from her seat across from the spy's desk and handed over the notebook that contained all of the notes she had taken the previous night. "Here's everything we have, Michael. "

"I tried to remember as many details as I could," Hawke explained from his chair next to Caitlin, "but this was all a long time ago and you have to realize that we didn't always get a lot of details about the mission targets ourselves."

"Yeah, I figured but maybe there's something in here that will help." Michael opened up the notebook and flipped through a few pages. "What are these names with the stars by them?"

"Those are the ones that Hawke found out later had been wrongly accused," Caitlin said as she reached over and took Hawke's hand. These were the memories that had bothered him the most.

All was silent for the next few minutes as Michael continued his review of the list. Turning back a few pages he must have seen something that piqued his interest as he picked up the phone on his desk and asked Carolyn, his assistant, to bring him in a complete personnel list of his division.

"What are you doing?" Dominic asked impatiently from the back of the room where he had been pacing.

"Just a minute and I'll tell you," Michael answered as the door opened and Carolyn laid a folder on his desk. Opening the folder he started comparing that list to the names in the notebook that Caitlin had given him.

"Dammit!" he said as he slapped his hand on the desk.

"Michael? What is it?" Caitlin asked as she leaned forward in her chair.

Standing up from behind the desk, Michael moved to where he could look out the window behind it. "Look, something's been bothering me since I first found out about all of this," he said as he absent mindedly stroked his mustache. " This Special Ops team was top secret, right? How was someone able to find out who all of the members were, much less where they were now? As I told you earlier, even I had trouble finding out anything but the scantest of information on this team."

"You're thinking an inside job?" Dom asked as he came and stood behind Hawke and Caitlin's chairs.

"Well, at least someone with access to top secret government files," Michael concurred.

"You found a name in that list that rang a bell, I take it?" Hawke asked.

"Yeah. I need to do some further checking to be sure but tell me what you remember about a Paul Stone."

"Well I can tell you that I know that he's dead," Hawke said.

"Okay but just humor me…tell me about that mission, Hawke."

"I don't know, Michael. I mean I can't tell you much more than what's in that notebook. The operation took place just after the Battle of Ban Dong in the early Spring of '71. After the battle we were told that it was suspected that Stone had handed over strategic information that eventually led to heavy casualties for our side on Hill 723. That whole battle was pretty much a blood bath for the South. In the end I think the government was looking for someone to blame for the loss and they picked Stone as their scapegoat. Of course at the time we didn't know that."

"And I assume your team was sent in to bring him back for interrogation if you could?" Michael prodded.

"Yeah. From what we had been told at the time, he was a traitor in our eyes. " Hawke stood and walked to the back of the room, giving himself time to think back before going any further.

Turning back to face the others, Hawke continued, "Stone was a big deal. He was battalion leader, a lieutenant colonel. To date he was the highest ranking officer we had been sent after. We knew that if he was guilty of the charges he was accused of, he wouldn't go down easy. He had too much invested."

"But you were able to bring him in without incident?" Michael asked as he took a seat back at his desk.

"Pretty much. Looking back it was probably too easy. Anyways, he was turned over to Military Intelligence to deal with."

"But you said you knew he was dead.." Dom interjected.

"Two days after we turned him over for interrogation, he was found dead in his cell. He had hung himself."

"Oh, String," Caitlin said as she got up and walked over to him and slid an arm around his waist.

"Hung himself…just like Billy Cargill," Michael observed as he looked back over some of his own notes and getting the other's attention.

"But Stone's dead, Michael," Dom pointed out. "So what's the connection?"

Picking up one of the files that Carolyn had brought him earlier, the spy pulled out a piece of paper and read from it. "Paul Stone, Jr., age 30, computer specialist for The FIRM." Throwing the paper back down on his desk, Michael looked up at three sets of surprised eyes staring back at him. "I guess that answers your question, Dom."

"It sure explains how he was able to get access to all of those files," Caitlin reasoned.

"So why didn't you guys catch this when you hired him?" Hawke asked accusingly.

"Easy, there was nothing to catch." Michael explained as he leaned back in his chair. "You said it yourself, Hawke, you found out years later that many of these men were falsely accused. I'm willing to bet you that in order to try and cover up their mistakes, the government probably changed Stone's records and any others like him to reflect that they died in the service of his country. Any reference to accusations of wrongdoing were expunged and they certainly weren't going to leak any information about your Special Ops team to the public so there was nothing for us to find."

"But Stone must have somehow found out about the real circumstances of his father's death and started looking for a way to get revenge," Caitlin broke in.

"Exactly." The spy agreed. "And he found the perfect place to put that plan in motion."

"So, Michael, he works here. Why are we standing around instead of going to get him?" Dom asked.

"It's not that easy, Dominic. This is all theory, we need proof. Not to mention, there's another concern,".

"What's that?" Dom asked.

"Airwolf," Hawke answered for the spy.

"Yes," Archangel agreed. "Since Stone was able to find out about everything else, we have to assume he knows about Airwolf, too and that Hawke is the one that has it. My guess is that's the reason why he's left Hawke for last."

"He not only wants to take me down but he wants to get his hands on Airwolf in the process," Hawke said. "Well, instead of waiting around for that to happen, I say we set him up. Give him a reason to come after me. At least that way we can fight him on our own terms."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Michael agreed. "But I think we've done enough talking for now. I'm suddenly feeling very uncomfortable here. How about I meet you guys back at the hangar this afternoon? We can hash things out then and in the mean time I can get all the information I can on Stone, Jr."

Pulling his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket, Hawke slid them on as he took Caitlin by the hand and started for the door. "C'mon Dom, lets go check on The Lady. We need to make sure she's in top form."

"You got it, kid," Dom said as he slapped his ball cap on his head and headed out after Hawke and Caitlin.

_TBC…._

_A/N: Ugh, these types of chapters are so hard for me to write so I hope I did the story justice and it makes sense. I can tell you that the battle and hill mentioned are real operations fought in Vietnam. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Brothers in Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only_.

**Chapter 9**

Arriving at The Lair, the three pilots sat in the Jeep admiring Airwolf as she stood gleaming in the soft light that had found it's way down through the funnel. "Ahhh, she is beautiful, isn't she?" Dom said with a sigh from the back seat.

"Yeah," Hawke simply agreed as he reached over from the driver's seat and took Caitlin's hand as he winked at her. "She sure is."

Caitlin blushed and giggled as she leaned over and gave Hawke a quick kiss on the cheek. "I think both of you are love sick fools," she said.

"What can we say? We're lucky guys to have such great ladies in our lives," Dom said with a prideful smile as he stepped out of the Jeep.

Following suit, Hawke and Cait exited the Jeep and followed Dom over to the impressive helicopter. Reaching into the passenger side of the cabin, Dom grabbed their three flight suits and handed one to each Hawke and Cait. "What d'ya say we take this little lady for a spin? It's been a few weeks since we've had her up."

"Sounds good," Hawke agreed and within fifteen minutes Airwolf was rising out of the Lair with Hawke at the controls. Caitlin in the co-pilot's seat and Dom in his usual spot at the engineering console. For the next 30 minutes the three put Airwolf through her paces never straying too far from their home base in the Valley of the Gods. "Everything seems to be working like a charm from back here, String," Dom informed them as he finished a system analysis.

"Yeah, up here too, Dom," Hawke agreed. "Hey Cait, why don't you take the controls, make sure everything's good from your side."

"I thought you'd never ask," the red head responded with a twinkle in her eye. "Hey Dom, let's see what this lady of yours can really do, give me turbo."

"Turbos," Dom confirmed with a smile as he switched on the super-powered engines.

With a shot of g force that pushed them back in their seats, the mach-capable helicopter took off like a shot. Hawke glanced over at Cait with a mixture of pride and admiration glistening in his eyes. "Hey, you're getting pretty good at this Cait. String better be careful or you'll be knocking him out of that pilot's seat," Dom teased.

"It'll be his own fault, seeing as he's the one that taught me," Cait responded with a laugh as she maneurved the helicopter expertly through a few twists and turns before disengaging the turbos and bringing the chopper back to normals speeds.

"Okay,now that everyone's had their fun, let's get Airwolf back to The Lair," Hawke announced as he retook control of the machine and concentrated on getting them safely back into the Lair. Once they had disembarked and done their post flight checks the three changed back out of their flight suits.

"So, Airwolf is ready, what about us?" Dom asked as the trio drove out of the Lair headed back to the hangar. "Any ideas on what we're going to do about catching Stone?"

"Yeah, maybe," Hawke said from behind the wheel. "I was thinking, Stone is probably monitoring all of this activity that Michael has had his team working on. He knows that we've figured out about the Special Ops team connection but he doesn't know that we've figured out his involvment yet. He's probably also keeping a close eye on anything that Airwolf might be working on for The Firm. Now what does Stone want just as much as my death?"

"To discredit your name," Caitlin answered.

"And to get The Lady," Dom chimed in.

"Exactly. I say we give to it all to him in one package. That should be something he can't resist," Hawke said.

"Yeah, but how are we going to do that, kid?" Dom asked.

"By now Stone probably figures we've heard about the information he sent to the Pentagon about St. John. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not going to stand for that. So let's say Airwolf just happens to disappear and Michael receives information that I've gone "rogue", taken Airwolf and headed out to get revenge, no matter what the cost."

Sure, Hawke, I get it," Caitlin picked up, "Michael then puts it out that you've stolen Airwolf, that you're refusing to bring her back and are planning on using it to attack our own government officials. Basically, it'll sound like you've gone off the deep end."

"Okay, but how do we get Stone involved?" Dom asked.

"He's a computer specialist, right? Hawke continued, "Well Michael's going to need all the help he can get to find Airwolf and me. He brings in Stone to help and we set a trap."

"And we can set it up so he can find a not so obvious signal within Airwolf's computer systems that Stone can track her with," Caitlin expained.

"And if I'm right, Stone won't be able to resist taking and using that information to come and find me on his own instead of giving the information to The Firm."

"Damn, kid!," Dom exclaimed. "I think you're onto something there!"

"Yeah, now we just have to get Archangel to go for it." Hawke said as he pulled the Jeep up in front of the hangar only to see Michael's white limo pulling in behind him.

By later that evening the team had a plan in place and had decided to set it into motion the next morning. "Hawke, I'll take care of things from my end but you just be careful. We've seen how dangerous Stone can be," Michael warned as he got back in his limo to head back to Knightsbridge to get everything set.

"Don't worry, Michael," Caitlin said. "He knows that if he gets himself into trouble Dom and I will be there to back him up."

"Why doesn't that make me feel any better?" the spy asked with a gleam in his eye. "The three of you have a knack for getting into trouble!"

"Yeah but we always come home, Archangel." Dom said. "And don't forget, we've saved your butt a time or two."

"Believe me, Dominic, I can't forget...you won't let me!"

Watching the limo drive away, the three pilots headed off to spend a peaceful night together before the showdown to come.

_TBC..._

.


	10. Chapter 10

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

_A/N: Another Hawke and Cait interlude just because they are so fun to write. Next chapter we'll get back to the action…well the other kind of action _

**Chapter 10**

Caitlin relaxed and settled herself back into Hawke's arms as she stared into the campfire that he had built near the lake's edge. After the meeting with Archangel, Dom had gone home to get a good night's sleep while Hawke and Cait had flown up to the cabin at Eagle Lake for the night. Dom would rendezvous with the two at The Lair first thing in the morning.

After a light dinner of salad and wine, Hawke had suggested that they take advantage of the clear night and the full moon and head outside. There was a slight chill in the night air so Hawke had built the fire to keep them warm. Of course the fact that he knew that Caitlin would find the whole setting romantic had crossed his mind as well.

Hawke smiled as he wrapped his arms just a little tighter around Cait as she leaned her head back against his chest and sighed. Holding her like this under the stars with the fire sparking and crackling, the flickering light bouncing off her strawberry blonde hair, he was beginning to realize what a fool he had been for so long to deny himself this kind of contentment.

"Caitlin?" he asked as he stared past her into the fire.

"Hmmmm?" she responded softly.

"Caitlin, are you happy here?" Hawke asked.

"Mmmm, very much so," Caitlin said. "It's such a beautiful night."

"No, that's not what I mean," Hawke said as he started to struggle to find the right words for what he wanted to say.

Sensing his uneasiness, Caitlin sat up and turned to look at him. "Hawke? Is everything okay?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah, more than okay I'd guess you say," he said as he reached out and cupped her face in his hand. "And that's exactly what I'm talking about."

"I'm not sure I'm following you," Caitlin said as she looked into Hawke's blue eyes that at the moment seemed to be looking right into her soul as he spoke to her.

"Caitlin, it's just that since we started seeing each other as more than friends, things have changed for me. I never realized how much I missed having someone special in my life or how lonely I really was. I used to love my time alone here at the cabin, it was my escape and my time to recharge. But now when I come here and you're not with me, I just feel empty and alone. I look at all of the paintings that my grandfather bought for my grandmother and where they used to give me comfort, now they make me sad that this cabin isn't filled with that kind of love anymore. I think that maybe it's time that it is. I don't think I ever really understood the kind of love my grandparents had, at least not until now. Caitlin, I guess what I'm trying to do is ask you to move up here with me. But I want you to be happy here, too."

A few tears rolled down Caitlin's cheek as she read the raw emotions and honesty that sparked in his eyes. She knew the courage he had had to gather to say those words to her. Caitlin was so moved by Hawke's speech that she could barely speak so instead she just leaned in and kissed him passionately.

After they parted, Caitlin leaned her forehead against Hawke's, not wanting to completely disconnect and lose the intimacy of the moment. "There is nothing that would make me happier than to live here with you, String," she said as he reached up and tenderly wiped the tears from her face. "I've thought that I loved you for a really long time but it's not until moments like this, just the two of us here at the cabin, that I realize I'm finally falling _in_ love with you. And every time we are here it's like I get to fall in love with you all over again because it's here that I know you let me in to see what others don't. It's here, at this cabin, that the real Stringfellow Hawke exists and the fact that you want to let me be a part of that world just makes me love you even more."

"I love you too, Cait," Hawke said in a hoarse whisper, his emotions rolling harder and stronger than he could ever remember. "You get me, like no one ever has. I can't promise you that things will be perfect but I can promise you that I will do everything I can to make you happy here."

"Well I know one thing that makes me happy," Caitlin said with a grin as she leaned back in and gave him another kiss. "How about we douse this fire and go start another one of our own inside?"

"See, like I said you get me. I think you just read my mind," he said as he stood and held out a hand to help her up. Why don't you go on inside and open us another bottle of wine. I'll be right behind you."

Hawke watched as Caitlin walked back into the cabin and then turned and doused the fire with some water from the lake. For a few moments he stood by the water's edge, looking up at the stars and listening to the cry of an eagle as it soared through the night air. For the first time in a really long time, Hawke was beginning to feel that things were actually right with his world. Sure he still had Stone to deal with and the dilemma of Sinjin's MIA status was never far away but Caitlin brought a security and a completeness into his life that no one else had ever been able to do.

Heading back towards the cabin, Hawke smiled as the strains of one of his favorite concertos floated out from the cabin's stereo and started to fill the air. Entering the door he saw Caitlin standing on the stairwell landing, a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hand but little else touching her porcelain white skin, welcoming him home.

_TBC…._


	11. Chapter 11

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 11**

Ten hours later, Dom, Hawke and Cait were all gathered at The Lair, ready to put their plan to capture Stone into motion.

"I spoke with Michael just before leaving the cabin, he's ready on his end," Hawke informed the others. "It's probably not a bad idea to go over our plans one last time before heading out."

"Okay, kid," Dom agreed from where he was sitting in the front seat of the Jeep he had driven out to the desert, "tell us what you got."

"So, Cait and I are going to take The Lady and head across the border to the city of Hermosillo, in Sonora, Mexico. Hopefully, Stone will catch the signal we buried deep in Airwolf's computer systems and be able to follow us. When we get there, Michael has set a rendezvous for me with a FIRM operative that will appear to be an illegal arms dealer from Nicaragua, someone who can supposedly supply me with armaments for Airwolf. Michael says he's got everything set in the computers to make this guy look legit. It should make this whole going rogue scenario look real to anyone who's looking into it. Of course, Stone shouldn't know that Cait's with me.

"Why do I see more time in that damn missile compartment in my future?" Caitlin asked with a wry grin.

Hawke chuckled and reached over patting her on the back. "Sorry about that but I promise I won't make you get in there any sooner than I have to. I'd take Dom but I don't think he'd fit."

"See, Cait, I told you that you needed a little more meat on your bones. If you weren't so damn skinny you could be flying with me instead!" Dom said with a wide gap-toothed grin.

"That's okay, Dom, I like her just the way she is," Hawke said as he slipped a hand around her waist. "See, she fits perfect right here."

"Oh you two!" Caitlin said with a slight blush.

Releasing his hold on Caitlin, Hawke continued with his explanation. "Anyways, our contact is going to tell me that I have to wait a day before I can get the weapons. Hopefully the delay will give Stone a chance to get to me. Dominic, you're going to be nearby in the Jet Ranger. You should be able to monitor our transmissions and Michael will keep in radio contact with you about Stone's movements. You're our backup if we need it. From there I guess we play it by ear once Stone arrives."

"I don't know kid, it leaves a whole lot of room for error. Who knows what this Stone has up his sleeve? I mean look at what he's managed so far," Dom said with concern as he removed his ball cap and ran his hands through his hair.

"Yeah, and I know I'll be with you Hawke but I still kinda feel like we're putting you out there to face this guy alone," Caitlin said. "Stone's gotten away with four murders already, he's not going to let you bring him in without a fight."

"I know but you guys WILL be there and we'll have The Lady which gives a huge advantage to start with. However, I do want to remind you that I want him brought in alive if possible. I know he's done some really horrible things but I can't help feel partly responsible. We accused his father of some unspeakable acts back in Nam without proof and the man killed himself because of it. It's enough to make any son go a little haywire. I'm not excusing what he's done but I want him to go to trial so that some of this comes out. The government needs to own up to its part in all of this and the families of the others need to see their husband's and father's and son's good names restored. "

"We'd better get going," Cait said as she looked at her watch. "I've got 9:30 a.m. Michael said he was going to put the word out about Hawke being gone about 45 minutes ago. Things should be heating up at Knightsbridge right about now. We better get in the sky and give Stone something to track."

"Yep, I'll meet you down in Sonora. String, keep our ladies safe," Dom said as he started the Jeep.

"Don't worry, Dom. Both of these ladies mean too much to me to let anything happen," Hawke said as he put his arm around Caitlin's shoulders and pulled her close. "Not to mention that coming home safe and sound suddenly means a lot more when you have someone special to come home to."

"That's what I like to hear kid!" Dom said with a smile as he put the Jeep into gear and headed to get the Jet Ranger.

_TBC…_

_A/N: another short chapter. Sorry but it seemed a good set up for the confrontation which will happen next chapter. Thanks to all of my followers and reviewers!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 12**

After taking off in Airwolf, Hawke and Cait spent the next few hours flying a very indirect and confusing route to Mexico . Hawke had wanted to make it appear that he was trying to avoid radar detection and any main flight paths that might be monitored. It would also allow Dom some extra time to get to Sonora before them and set up an inconspicuous base camp from which he could respond quickly if needed.

Finally arriving in Sonora late that afternoon, Hawke flew Airwolf into a predetermined site that Michael had given him coordinates to. In the mean time, Michael had told Stone that FIRM sources in Mexico had advised him they had heard rumors of a Nicaraguan arms dealer that was said to be looking for armaments for a top-secret aircraft. Stone was given a dummy file on the supposed arms dealer in hopes that any information on him might help lead to information about where Airwolf may be headed. That information along with the signal Stone was sure to latch onto in Airwolf's computer should ensure that the murderer would end up at the same place as Hawke.

"Santini Air to The Lady," Just as they were landing, Hawke heard Dom's call come in on the coded radio channel they had set up to communicate with each other.

Looking back to Caitlin who was currently in the engineer's position, Hawke asked her to check and make sure the scramblers were working before answering. "Yeah, Hawke…all systems go. It should be safe to answer him," she confirmed as she ran her fingers over the keyboard in front of her.

"Dom, we got you. Caitlin says it's safe to talk. Go," Hawke instructed as he switched channels.

"I just thought you should know, I just heard from The Spotless Wonder and he says everything's going off without a hitch. Stone left The Firm headquarters not long after you and Caitlin took off. We believe he commandeered a chopper out of LA and should be arriving pretty close behind you. Archangel's lost exact track of him, but he believes Stone is probably less than an hour out."

"Okay Dom, where are you?"

"I found a place about 10 miles from you. I should be able to get to you pretty quickly if needed," Dom explained as he quickly gave Caitlin the coordinates of his current location.

"Okay, let Michael know we've arrived and we'll be waiting for Stone. I'm going to hide The Lady and then go talk to Michael's operative. I want to make sure he's got his story straight for when Stone gets here."

"Got it! Stay sharp, kid," Dom answered as he cut the connection.

"So what's our plan, Hawke?" Caitlin asked.

"Not ours, Cait, mine," Hawke answered. "At least for now. We're going to get The Lady out of sight and you're going to stay with her while I go talk to our contact. I don't want Stone flying in here early and running across you. I need to keep you out of sight. You're my ace in the hole in case something goes wrong."

"I just don't like you going in there alone, Hawke," Caitlin said with concern. "At least take the portable radio with you so you can contact Dom or me if you have to."

Hawke thought of protesting but when he turned and saw the stern look in Caitlin's eyes, he acquiesced with a nod. "Now, let's get Airwolf down and covered. "

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

Hawke had walked about a mile from Airwolf to the outskirts of Hermisillo when he spotted the abandoned warehouse that Michael had told him to meet his contact. Upon entering the building, he looked around but saw no one. "Hello?" he yelled, his voice echoing through the metal building. Getting no answer he drew his 9mm and proceeded cautiously further into the structure.

"Hey! Anyone here?" he yelled, once again to be answered only by silence. Coming to the back of the building he saw three doors that appeared to lead to a set of offices. The largest office had probably belonged to the foreman and had a large window that looked out over the warehouse. The room inside was dark and the window was covered in years of grime and dirt but Hawke thought he could detect movement behind the glass. Carefully approaching the door, he reached down and tried the knob. It was unlocked and turned in his hand. Readying his weapon and taking a deep breath to prepare himself, Hawke quickly threw open the door and entered the room, gun first. The sight before him stopped him in his tracks.

"Dammit!" he muttered under his breath as he stared at a body that was swinging from a metal beam in the middle of the room. It didn't take him long to realize that the hanged ma n was that of Archangel's contact. But what really got his attention was the black and white photo of Caitlin that was pinned to the dead man's chest. He recognized it as being the one that had been taken for her file at THE FIRM. Reaching up he pulled the photo off of the body and turned it over to find a handwritten note on the back:

"_**Nice try, Mr. Hawke but I'm afraid that Archangel underestimated my abilities. It took me all of 5 minutes to realize that the file he had given me on the arms dealer was fake and that Airwolf's signal was just a little too easy to track. Now not only will you have to pay but so will your girlfriend. By the time you read this, she'll already be with me and we'll have Airwolf. (Yes, I pulled up Ms. O'Shannessy's file at The FIRM and I know she has the capability to pilot the helicopter. ) I suggest you contact Mr. Santini and fly back to LA and await further instructions if you ever want to see Airwolf again or you if don't want to find your little red head hanging from the end of her own rope."**_

Turing the photo back over so he could look at Caitlin's smiling face, Hawke nearly broke at the thought of her in Stone's hands. This may have started out as revenge for his father's wrongful death but Hawke was beginning to realize that in his own sick little mind, Stone was beginning to enjoy the game. There was no telling what he would do to Caitlin in the name of revenge against Hawke. Remembering the radio that she had made him carry, he quickly reached for it and called Dom, telling him to meet him at the warehouse. Things had just gone from bad to much worse….

_TBC…._

A/N: Darn muse! This was so NOT the way I had intended this to go but as I wrote, this is what ended up on the page. So…our saga continues, I hope you don't mind…lol.


	13. Chapter 13

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 13**

Caitlin was kicking herself for letting her guard down. As soon as Hawke had left for the meet with the contact, she had busied herself with a full systems and weapons check on Airwolf just to make sure they were ready for anything that might come up. Her back was turned away from the front of the chopper and she had just assumed that when she heard the cockpit door opening that it was Hawke returning for something he had forgotten. Turning from her engineering console she was more than surprised to be met with a small caliber semiautomatic pistol pointed in her face with Paul Stone on the other end of it.

Now here she was being forced to pilot Airwolf to some as yet unspecified location with a certified crazy man holding a gun on her and the status of Hawke and Dom still unknown to her.

"You know, eventually you're going to have to tell me where we're going. Even Airwolf won't fly forever, we're going to need fuel at some point," Caitlin said hoping she could bluff Stone.

Glancing at the cockpit instruments, Stone just laughed. "Nice try, red, but it looks like the tanks are nearly full. Now, quit worrying about where we're headed and just follow my instructions and maybe you'll come out of this alive. "

Taking her hands off the cyclic, Caitlin turned to stare at her captor. "You can make all the threats you want, but I know you need me to fly Airwolf so until you tell me what you've done with Hawke, I'm not doing another damn thing you say!"

As the helicopter started to dive, a panicked look crossed Stone's face. "Bring her up! NOW!" he demanded as he pointed the gun directly at Caitlin.

"Shoot me and I die. I might as well take you with me," she answered back as she folded her arms across her chest. In her head, Caitlin was quickly calculating the rate of dive and how much time she had before it would be too late to turn back. It wasn't long.

Taking one hand and reaching for the controls on the co-pilots side, Stone tried to pull the yoke back himself only to find he had been locked out. "Look, Bitch, I said pull her up now or you'll be sorry!"

"Tell me about, Hawke," Caitlin demanded back. "Did you kill him?"

"He's alive, all right?! Now pull us out of this dive if you ever want to see him again!"

Taking just a second to look Stone in the eyes, Caitlin determined he was probably telling the truth. He was too panicked to do anything else at the moment. Quickly she retook control of the aircraft and brought it out of its dive with seconds to spare. It had been a close call, much closer than she had planned on but if Hawke had been dead, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. She had had to find out.

Once the chopper leveled out, Stone took a deep breath of relief. Suddenly he started to laugh the most evil laugh Caitlin had ever heard. "You are a spitfire, aren't you?" he finally said. "I bet you're feisty in bed, too. I can see why Hawke is fond of you," he said with a smarmy smile as he reached over and rubbed her arm. A chill ran down Caitlin's spine at his touch. "Maybe I'll get to find out more about that later," he said with an evil grin. "But for now, I suggest you restore operation to my controls. I don't want something like this happening again. I may not be able to use all of Airwolf's advanced technology but believe me I'm good enough to land her if need be."

Glancing over at Stone, Caitlin figured she'd used up all her chances for now and thought if she was ever going to get herself and Airwolf back to Hawke she'd better comply with the madman next to her. Pushing a few buttons, she nodded at Stone to show she had taken the locks off his controls. After a quick test himself, he seemed satisfied with what he found.

"Of course, you know, I can't let that little incident go without some type of punishment," Stone said as he almost loving stroked the barrel of his gun. Before Caitlin had time to react he had placed the gun right against her leg and pulled the trigger, shooting her in her left thigh. Screaming in pain, Caitlin tried to instinctually jerk away but of course in such close quarters she had nowhere to go. She knew this wasn't good. The gun may have been a small .22 caliber but that just meant that it might not have enough power to shoot clean through and may bounce around inside doing even more damage than a larger gun.

"Let that be a lesson to you, red," Stone said as he withdrew the weapon. "Now, fly a Northwest heading back across the border until I tell you different. When we get closer to our destination, if you cooperate, maybe I'll even let you speak to your boyfriend. Before I kill him, that is."

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

"Dammit, Michael! What the hell happened? I thought you had everything covered!" Hawke yelled as he paced the small office at Santini Air.

"Believe me, Hawke, I thought we did too. But Stone's a much more accomplished hacker than even we thought. He was able to blow right through all of our security systems and find out everything. I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry_, Michael?" Hawke growled as he stopped his pacing long enough to point a finger in the spy's face. "Well sorry's not good enough! Now this murderer has Caitlin and we have no clue where he's at or what the hell he's up to!"

"And Airwolf, Hawke. Don't forget he has Airwolf,too." Michael responded.

"I don't give a rat's ass about Airwolf!," Hawke said as he threw a steely glare towards Archangel. "But I can tell you this, if he harms one hair on Caitlin's head, he'll have me to deal with and I don't need Airwolf or anything else to tear him limb from limb!"

"String!" Dominic finally interjected as he walked over and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "You've got to calm down, kid. I'm worried about Caitlin, too but all of this yelling ain't getting us anywhere."

Letting out a sigh and releasing a little tension, Hawke finally agreed with Dom. "You're right, we need to focus on finding Caitlin but don't think I'm letting you off the hook, Michael."

"Look we can talk about who's to blame later. Right now we've got to figure out our next move. Any ideas?" Michael asked as he absently brushed his mustache.

"Maybe," Dom said as he sat back down at his desk.

"Well don't keep us in suspense, Dom," Hawke encouraged.

"Well, we planted that tracking beacon in Airwolf's computer systems for Stone to find, right? Couldn't we use the same thing to track her now?"

"Yes, yes we could!" Michael said as he nodded his head. "Give me a few minutes. I'll go out to the limo and put in a call to Knightsbridge, see if we can get a trace. "Good thinking, Dominic!"

As they watched the spy head out of the hangar, Hawke finally stopped his pacing and slumped down in a nearby chair, putting his head in his hands.

"She's going to be fine, kid," Dom said knowing exactly what Hawke was thinking. "Don't forget, that girl's tough and she can take care of herself. Not to mention that Stone needs her right now to fly The Lady."

"Yeah, I know," Hawke said as he looked at the older man with weary eyes, "but I just have a bad feeling about this. Stone's pretty ruthless and there's no telling what he might do. I can't lose her, Dom," he admitted candidly as a tear came to his eye. "You know I asked her to move in with me, up to the cabin?"

"String, that's great!" Dom said as he reached over and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I can't go back there alone, Dom. It's too empty without her."

"Well then, I suggest we get off our butts and find her!" Dom said as he stood up. "C'mon let's go find out what The Spotless Wonder has found out."

_TBC…._


	14. Chapter 14

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 14**

"You better hope you can really land this thing like you said, Stone," Caitlin said as the throbbing pain in her leg seemed to grow worse with every minute that passed. She was also starting to feel very light-headed which she realized probably meant that she was bleeding internally and losing a lot of blood from the gunshot wound.

"Don't worry, Red, we're almost there. Just put me on heading 070 and I'll take over from here," Stone instructed as Caitlin did as she was told. Within five minutes she was surprised to see them approaching what appeared to be an abandoned prison yard. The concertina-wired fence still stood at least partially intact surrounding the grounds along with three large and crumbling, concrete buildings. The whole location gave off a very creepy vibe to Caitlin, even as they approached in daylight. She couldn't imagine what it would be like at night.

"I'll take over from here," Stone said as he took over control of the helicopter.

"We're not going _there?"_ Caitlin said as she realized the Stone was starting to descend right into the middle of the prison yard.

"Oh yes, don't you think it's marvelous, Red? My father probably hung himself in a cell not much different from the ones we'll find here. It's only fitting that Hawke dies in the same type of place, don't you think?"

"You're crazy, Stone!" Caitlin said as Airwolf touched down.

"You know, Red, you talk too much," Stone said with irritation as he reached over and brought his fist down hard right on top of Caitlin's injured thigh. Screaming out in agony, Cait's vision began to blur as the pain became too much and she finally passed out.

"There, maybe you'll be quiet for awhile," Stone said as he powered down the rotors. Getting out of the helicopter he went around and opened the pilot side door. Removing Cait's helmet and unbuckling her from her seat, he picked her up and carried her into the nearest building. Looking around the damp and musty structure, he spotted a cell that still contained an old cot and took Caitlin to it and threw her roughly down. Cait moaned as she fell onto the hard surface but remained unconscious. Leaving the cell, Stone slammed the iron door behind him glad to see that the lock was still in place and intact. "That should keep her contained long enough," he said as he set out to put the rest of his plan in place.

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

"Okay, gentlemen, we seem to have a fix on Airwolf's computers," Michael informed Dom and Hawke as they sat in the back of the spy's white limo, "and surprisingly they're not too far from here."

" They came back to California?" Dom asked with surprise.

"It would appear so, Bakersfield to be exact," Michael said as he checked his notes.

"What the hell would Stone be doing in Bakersfield?" Dom asked. "I figured he'd be running the opposite direction, not towards us!"

"Michael, do you have the exact coordinates?" Hawke asked suddenly as a thought crossed his mind.

"Yes," he said as he handed over a piece of paper with a set of numbers listed on it.

Hawke took the paper and exited the limo, walking to the back wall of the hangar where several maps and aeronautical charts were mounted on the wall. Checking the coordinates that Michael had given him, Hawke found the location on the map. "That's what I thought," he said half to himself.

"What is it, String?" You know the place?" Dom asked as he looked over Hawke's shoulder.

"Yeah, there used to be a state prison there. It's been abandoned for about 10 years or so now."

"What would Stone want at an abandoned prison?" Michael wondered out loud.

"Kind of makes sense, don't you think?" Hawke asked as he turned to look at the two other men. "His father killed himself in a prison cell. In his twisted mind he's probably thinking what better place for revenge on the final person responsible for putting him there. He's trying to bring it full circle."

"Yeah, that makes sense, kid," Dom agreed. "So we know where he is, let's go get him!"

"It's not that easy, Dom," Hawke said as sat on the edge of a desk that sat in front of the maps. "Don't forget, he's got Airwolf which gives him a distinct advantage. Not to mention he's got Caitlin. We can't just go landing the Jet Ranger in there, he'll shoot us out of the sky before we get within five miles of the place. And if by some chance we were to get by him and go in guns blazing, we're just as liable to hit Cait as we are Stone."

"So what's the plan?" Michael asked as he adjusted his glasses.

"I wish I knew," Hawke said with a look of despair. A few moments later the phone in the hangar began to ring. Looking at each other, the three men each instinctually knew who the caller would be.

Pushing a button on the phone so that it would go to speaker, Hawke answered. "Yeah."

"Ah you have me on speaker. I assume that both Mr. Santini and Archangel are listening in then?" Stone said in response.

"They're here, Stone. Get on with whatever it is you want," Hawke demanded succinctly.

"Direct and to the point, I should have expected that from a military man. Very well, it's simple, Hawke, I want you. If I'm correct, you probably already know where your little red-headed friend and I ended up. So, I'm giving you three hours to get here. You come on your motorcycle, you come alone and you come unarmed. Any sight of an aircraft, zebra squad or any FIRM personnel, weapons of any kind, or Dominic Santini within 20 miles of here and I'll kill Red and I'll make sure she doesn't go easy. Got it?"

"I want to speak to Caitlin! How do I know you haven't killed her already?" Hawke said tersely while a lump formed in the pit of his stomach just having to ask the question.

"Well I would let you speak to her but she's a little incapacitated…or should I say incarcerated…at the moment. But you can trust me Hawke, she's alive. If she dies, I want you to be a witness. It would be so much sweeter that way, don't you think?"

"I swear to God, Stone, if you've harmed her in any way, you'll need more than Airwolf to save yourself. You understand me?" Hawke said as he unconsciously clenched his fists at his side.

The sound of Stone's laughter filled the phone line. "How chivalrous of you, Hawke, but I really don't think you're in a position to make such threats. Anyways, the clock is ticking, you now have 2 hours and 57 minutes to get here. Did I mention I would find a way to torture her for every minute you are late? I suggest you get moving. I'll be waiting." The sound of a dial tone suddenly filled the air.

Without saying a word, Hawke started to walk towards his blue BMW motorcycle that was parked in the front corner of the hangar.

"String!" Dom called after him. "You're not really going to just hand yourself over to him with no backup?"

"What choice to I have, Dom?" he said as he pulled on his leather jacket and reached for his helmet. "If I don't, Caitlin's going to be the one to suffer and I'll be damned if I let that happen just because I was trying to play hero."

"Hawke, Dom's right, this is crazy," Michael agreed with the older pilot.

"Yeah, maybe so but right now it's the only choice we have. If you can come up with something better, please do so. You and Dom have 2 hours and 54 minutes to come up with a plan," Hawke said as he looked at his watch. "In the meantime, I'm headed to meet Stone." With that, Hawke put on his helmet, started the bike and drove out of the hangar towards Bakersfield.

"Mother of God," Dom muttered as he watched him go. "C'mon Archangel, you and I are going to follow in that limo of yours. Hopefully on the way we can figure out a way help him out and save Hawke, Caitlin AND Airwolf. I just wish I knew how!"

_TBC…._


	15. Chapter 15

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 15**

As Hawke drew closer to the abandoned prison site in Bakersfield, evening began to turn to night and the roads became more and more remote. He realized that there would be no chance of anyone sneaking up on Stone undetected as the flat desert land stretched out for miles in all directions around him. "_Stone couldn't have picked a more perfect place to hole up,"_ Hawke thought to himself as he studied the desolate terrain. He only hoped that Dom and Archangel made the same determination as he had assumed they were somewhere behind him. Hawke knew Dom well enough to know he wouldn't have just stayed behind.

As soon as he saw the old guard shack and entrance to the prison, Hawke glanced at his watch. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that he had made it with 20 minutes to spare. Hopefully Stone would keep his word and leave Caitlin alone, at least for the time being.

Turning into the gated entrance, Hawke could see Airwolf standing still and proud in the middle of the prison yard. Unsure of what to do, he automatically headed towards the aircraft. About 50 yards away from the helicopter, Hawke brought the motorcycle to a screeching halt as he was suddenly blinded by Airwolf's spotlights as they were directed right at him.

"You can stop there, Hawke," he heard Stone's voice come over the loud speaker. "Dismount your bike and walk slowly towards Airwolf and keep your hands where I can see them."

Hawke did as he was directed, trying with little success to see through the brightness of the severe light as he walked forward. When he was about 20 feet from Airwolf, Stone directed him to hold his position.

Hawke blinked to try and clear some of the spots from in front of his eyes as Stone turned down the spotlights and jumped out of the aircraft. Hawke was having trouble focusing after the bright lights but could see well enough to know that Stone had a gun trained directly at his head.

"Well, Hawke, it's nice to see you're prompt," Stone said with a smirk as he approached the pilot.

"Where's Caitlin?" Hawke asked immediately as he took a quick look around but failed to see any sign of her.

"Well now, that's the $64,000 question, isn't it?" Stone responded. "You'll have a chance to figure that out soon enough but first we have a few things to straighten out ourselves."

"I'll tell you whatever you want and I'll come with you willingly…just let the girl go. She's got nothing to do with this," Hawke pleaded.

"I wonder if my father begged like that for a chance to prove his innocence and save his own life before you took him in all those years ago," Stone said, his voice suddenly turning very angry. "Of course if he did, it's obvious you and your compatriots didn't listen. Perhaps I should just follow your lead and refuse your request to let the girl go. You know, the more I think about it an exchange of that red head you seem so fond of for my father seems almost fair. You know what they say, an eye for an eye."

"No!" Hawke almost shouted. Trying to calm himself he took a deep breath. "Look, Stone, I can't tell you how sorry I am for what happened to your father. If I had it to do all over again, things would be different. But I can't go back. You have to understand, there was a war going on and our men were getting slaughtered daily. We were just trying to do what we thought was right, what our government was ordering us to do. We were barely more than kids ourselves, we never thought to question our superiors. I know that doesn't make it right but it's the way it was. It wasn't until years later that we found out the truth about Lieutenant-Colonel Stone and many others. Believe me, when we did find out, it made us sick to know we had been a party to any of it."

"And that excuses it? That brings my father's reputation and good name back? That takes away all of the pain my mother went through during the years we had to believe that my father wasn't the man we thought he was?" Stone said with venom. "No, it doesn't!"

"And neither will this!" Hawke tried to reason. "You killed Cargill, Hansen, Tomlinson and Holden…did killing any of those men bring your father back? Did it really make you feel any better? Stone, let me help you. I can't keep you out of prison for the murders but I can explain everything to them and keep you out of the electric chair. But you have to take me to Caitlin. You have to let her go."

Stone actually seemed to consider Hawke's words for a few moments, before the anger savagely returned. "You'll never see me behind bars, Hawke! It only took two days for my father to decide he couldn't live that way. I'll be damned if you try to do the same to me. But you are right about one thing, killing the rest of those men didn't give me the satisfaction I had hoped for. I'm not sorry I did it but I need something more and I think I can get that from you right now."

"And what's that?" Hawke asked cautiously.

"I'm going to make you suffer, just like my mother and I suffered. You want the bitch back? Fine, then you find her. She's somewhere nearby and if you can find her in time and get her out of here, you can have her. However you should now, her time is pretty short, and I have my doubts that even if you find her it will be in time. Last time I saw her she'd already lost a lot of blood."

Stone smirked as he caught the mixture of fear, anger and pure hatred that crossed Hawke's face. "Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you. There was a little mishap with my gun on the way here and Red took a bullet to her leg. She's a pistol that one…no pun intended."

"I'll kill you, Stone!" Hawke growled as he took a step towards the man. He was quickly stopped by the bullet that whizzed by his ear seconds later.

"No, no you won't, Hawke. You take another step and I'll put the next one right through your forehead and she'll die for sure. Now here's what's going to happen. I'm going to get back in Airwolf and I'm going to fly out of here."

"You'll never get her off the ground," Hawke spat at Stone.

"Ah, ye of little faith. Underneath all of the fancy wrapping and extra little trinkets, it's just a helicopter. I may not be able to fly her to her full capabilities but I can get her away from here. There will always be time later to learn the intricacies of what she can really do."

Now as I was saying," Stone kept speaking as he started to back towards Airwolf, keeping his gun trained on Hawke, "when I lift off, you can start your search for your woman, not a moment sooner. If you're extremely lucky, the only thing you're going to lose today is Airwolf. My bet is that you're going to lose a lot more than that before it's all over and that's enough to keep me satisfied for a long time to come. Well, that and the money I'll get from selling Airwolf to the highest bidder. I hear that Russia is looking for some new aircraft," Stone said as he reached the plane and opened the cockpit door. "Of course they would have paid extra to have the woman pilot with her but she really wasn't worth the trouble. In the end this will be much more satisfying." Stone finished his speech and climbed into Airwolf.

"You bastard!" Hawke swore as he watched the rotors engage. He started to head towards the prison buildings but another shot landing at his feet stopped him. Looking up he saw Stone smirking at him through the window. Waiting on Stone to take off seemed to take forever and he knew that Stone was stalling on purpose but there was nothing he could do but wait. Finally Airwolf was off the ground with a shaky but successful liftoff, and Hawke watched as Stone turned away from the compound and headed out into the night.

As soon as Airwolf was out of sight, Hawke started to run for the closest building yelling Caitlin's name. Just as he reached the door, illumination from a pair of headlights swept across the front of the building. He turned to see Dom and Archangel exiting the FIRM limo.

"String! You're alright! We saw Airwolf take off and I got really worried!" Dom said in a relieved tone.

"Dom, Stone's got Airwolf. You two have got to go after him. Get him down." Hawke instructed.

"Where's Caitlin?" Dom asked as he looked around for signs of her.

"I don't know. According to Stone she's here but she's been shot and is bleeding badly. He left me to try to find her among all of this. I don't think I can do it by myself Dom. I need Airwolf, we need to be able to scan this place for infrared signals, its our only chance. You've got to get Airwolf back!" Hawke was almost in a state of panic as he tried to explain things to Dom.

"Hawke, I've already got F/A-18s headed out of Edwards Air Force Base, " Michael said as he came forward. "They've been instructed to intercept and bring down Airwolf with as little damage as possible."

"NO!" Hawke practically screamed. "Don't let them shoot Airwolf down, we need her. I'm betting Stone's headed for the Russian Border. He could barely get Airwolf off the ground, he won't fly her any longer than he has too. Tell them to track Stone and get him as soon as he sets down. Dom, go with them so you can bring Airwolf back as soon as they get Stone."

"And how am I supposed to get our guys into Russian Airspace without being shot down ourselves, Hawke?" Michael asked incredulously.

"I don't Michael, you're the damn spy, you figure it out. Just do it! I can't stand here any longer, I've got to find Caitlin! Give me a flashlight, " he ordered as he looked into the darkened doorway of the prison barracks.

Nodding at his driver to do as told, Michael took off his suit jacket and threw it into the back of the limo. "Karen, take Dom to meet up with the Airforce personnel, I'll stay and help Hawke search," he said as he took the two flashlights that she handed him. "As soon as you're on the road, get in touch with Zeus and tell him exactly what's happening. Tell him I said that if he wants Airwolf back, he better work something out with the Russians to let us in. Got it?"

"Understood, Sir," the white clad assistant said as she got back behind the wheel of the car.

Dominic, gave Hawke a clap on the back as he turned to go. "Don't worry kid, we'll get both of our ladies back. I know it."

_TBC…._

_Next chapter…the search. _


	16. Chapter 16

**Brothers in Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only_.

_A/N: I just want to thank everyone for the tremendous response to these last few chapters. So many reviews, it warms my heart. I guess I'm doing something right so I guess I better keep it up. I'll do my best. :) _

**Chapter 16**

Caitlin opened her eyes to find nothing, absolutely nothing. The darkness that enveloped her was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She knew her eyes were open but she literally couldn't find the hand in front of her face. Trying not to panic she laid still hoping her eyes would begin to adjust to the lack of illumination. Finally, after several minutes she could just begin to make out the bars that surrounded her on three sides. By reaching out her right hand she could feel a slimy, concrete wall that evidently made up the fourth wall. If she had been able to hold off the panic before, now it seemed to be settling in and making a permanent home in the pit of her stomach as she realized that Stone must have locked her in one of the cells in the old prison.

The pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears wasn't helping matters either. The lack of sensory input from outside sources was so severe her body seemed to be trying to provide it's own. Caitlin felt like she wanted to scream just to break the deafening silence but not knowing where Stone was, somehow made that seem like a bad idea.

Pushing her upper body up off the rusted cot she had been thrown onto earlier, she attempted to raise herself up to a full sitting position. About half-way up, the most burning and excrutiating pain she had ever felt shot through her left leg and seemed to radiate throughout her whole body causing her to drop back down to the metal frame. She wanted to try again but her body was so weak she couldn't seem to find the strength. Knowing that many of the body's main arteries ran through the thigh, Caitlin figured the loss of blood had probably been quite significant.

Caitiln shivered as an icy chill seemed to run through her cell. It was a frightening sensation as there seemed to be no windows anywhere in the near vicinity. She wasn't sure if the chill came from the night air creeping in through cracks in the dilapated walls or if it was just her body going into shock, unable to keep her warm any longer. Either way, it didn't take long for her to start to shake and her teeth to chatter.

Figuring that if she closed her eyes, maybe she could at least feel in control of the darkness, Caitlin tried to focus all of her energy into her hearing. The exercise only seemed to prove to be an exercise in futility however when the pounding in her own head just seemed to increase in volume. Cait was beginning to fear the worst. She would die here in this dreadful place never knowing if Stone had extracted his revenge on Hawke or not. She didn't even know, as she laid trapped in this hell hole, if Hawke was alive or dead. Tears began to stream down her face.

Feeling a sudden heaviness and feeling of total exhaustion overtake her, Caitlin re-evaluated her previous idea of screaming for help. After all, the worst was already taking place. Even if it was Stone that showed up, she couldn't imagine being any worse off than she was now. Summoning every ounce of energy she had left in her body, she attempted to cry out Hawke's name. The first attempt resulted in nothing more than a hoarse rasp whose sound barely made it beyond her own lips. Taking a swallow and licking her lips, Cait tried once more. The second time proved to be more of a success but the desolate sound of her voice echoing through the obviously empty tomb of a building she was in brought her to a point of total despair. Finding she had no more strength to fight, she allowed herself to sink back into the dark but welcoming abyss that was unconsciousness.

**AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW**

Hawke and Michael had already spent almost two hours systematically checking every wing, hallway and cell in the first building. Searching was slow due to the unbelievable, inky blackness that seemed to invade every inch of the old building. The small flashlights they were using seemed barely capable of breaking through the murky surroundings.

But even with all of their meticulousness, nary a trace of Caitlin had been found. Hawke couldn't explain how but he knew in his soul that time for Cait was quickly running out. It was as if he could feel every weakening beat of her heart with his own. Although he had said nothing to Michael, panic was quickly setting in as he realized that this first building was actually the smallest of the three. At one time this prison had been home to well over a thousand prisoners. Hawke was afraid that even if they did finally locate her, it would be too late. It was just too much for two men to try and cover. He needed Airwolf's infrared heat sensors...assuming that Caitlin was still alive.

That last thought caught in Hawke's throat like a jagged razor, burning all the way down as he swallowed. He couldn't allow himself to think that way. Not now...all of his energy had to stay focused on finding her...alive.

"Hawke, I think we've covered this building as best we can. Let's head to the next one," Michael suggested as he shown his light towards the younger man who suddenly appeared 20 years older in the miniscule light the flashlight provided.

Hawke knew the spy was right, they needed to move on but it was as if some force kept pulling at him and encouraging him to stay where he was at. For some unexplainable reason, he felt as if he moved from this first building, he would be moving further away from Caitlin and ensuring her death.

"Hang on, Michael. Just stay quiet for a minute. We've missed something, I know it."

Having experienced Hawke's sixth sense before, Michael stopped and stood quietly, waiting for Hawke to make the next move.

Thirty seconds later, Hawke quickly turned to look back over his shoulder as if something had caught his attention.

"Hawke, what is it?" Michael asked as he tried to look back into the blackness they'd just left behind.

"I heard something. I could have sworn it sounded like Cait calling my name. C'mon we've missed something, we need to go back," he instructed as he was already headed back down the corridor.

Making their way down the hallway, one man on each side, they used their flashlights to illuminate each cell as they walked past.

"We've already checked all of these, they're empty, " Michael said as they came to the end of the hallway. "Hawke I hate to say it, but maybe you just wanted to hear Caitlin."

"No! I know what I heard, dammit! It was her. There's got to be another hallway, another cell...something!" Hawke said, the desperation creeping into his usually steady voice. Shining his flashlight over all of the walls, Hawke almost missed it as he made a final sweep. "Michael, look!" Hawke said as he pointed his flashlight on the wall to his left. It was barely visible but there was a solid grey metal door that appeared to be almost the same color as the concrete walls around it. It had been so dark and they had been concentrating so much on the cells, they must have missed it the first time through. Reaching down, Hawke actually found himself saying a silent prayer of thanks as the knob turned in his hand. Opening the door he came upon a small room, just big enough to contain two 8x8 cells with a desk set in front of them where a guard must have once been stationed. Blocked off from the rest of the cell block, Hawke figured this was probably some type of solitary confinement or disciplinary room.

"Michael, shine your light this way. She's in here, I know it!" he said as he approached the first cell. "Caitlin?" he said loudly as the two beams of light fought to break up the darkness. Hawke's heart fell into his gut as there appeared to be no one in the cell. Opening the cell door, he stepped inside for a closer inspection that only confirmed his first appraisal, no Caitlin.

Sweeping his flashlight to the left the light washed over the bars that separated the two cells. It was then that he saw her...laying unconcsciously (at least he hoped it was only a state of unconsciousness) on the cot in the other cell.

"Michael, it's her!" he said as ran out of the cell he was in and almost ran into the spy who appeared to just be standing numbly outside of Cait's cell looking in. "Get out of the way! I've got to get to her!" Hawke said as he literally pushed the other man to the side.

"String, it's locked," Michael said forlornly, immediately realizing the implications.

"NO!" Hawke said as he pulled and pushed against the bars with all of his might. Turning around he stepped back to the desk, frantically ransaking all of the drawers in a desperate search for a key. Finding nothing he turned his rage and fear back on the cell door, rattling it with everything he could muster. The fact that Caitlin hadn't moved a muscle during the whole ordeal hadn't been lost on him either. Realizing the irony and horror of the situation, being close enough to see her, to smell the remnants of her perfume, yet unable to touch her or do anything as she lay dying in front of him, Hawke slid to the floor, a broken man.

_TBC..._

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	17. Chapter 17

**Brothers in Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only_.

**Chapter 17**

Hawke had never felt so helpless and forlorn in his life. A mere 15 feet separated himself and the woman he loved more than he had thought he could ever love anyone and all he could do is sit and watch as the life faded from her body. Even with Gabrielle, it hadn't been this bad. At least he had been able to hold her and comfort her in his arms as she died but with Caitlin he was even denied that small connection. What had he ever done to deserve such cruel punishment in his life? It was at that moment, Hawke knew that he had never been damned by God because there was no God. No such entity would ever allow Caitiln to die so horribly and alone in such a hell-hole as this as he could do nothing but watch it happen.

Michael Coldsmith-Briggs had spent most of his adult life working against and, sometimes as the situation necessitated, even with the worst human nature had to offer. The spy had seen things that would have crumbled lesser men many times over yet seeing Hawke collapse to the floor before him in what could only be described as pure, unadulterated desperation affected him more than anything he had ever witnessed. Stringfellow Hawke was probably the strongest man he knew. Sure he had never been afraid of showing emotion, even shedding a tear or two especially when it came to those he loved like his brother St. John, but never would he have believed he would have seen Stringfellow Hawke suffer in such a manner as he had just witnessed. As much as he wanted to comfort the younger man, Michael knew that any words he would try to say at this moment would just seem patronizing and trite. The human language seemed to possess no adequate words for the situation before them.

Suddenly a cacophonous yet hauntingly beautiful, screeching wail filled the air around them. Michael and Hawke's eyes met as they realized in the same instant that Dom had succeeded in bringing Airwolf back. One Lady arriving to rescue another, the one hope they may have for actually escaping the impossible position they had been placed in.

Pulling every bit of emotional and physical strength he had from the depths of his soul, Hawke pulled himself up from the floor and allowed himself to go into autopilot mode. "Michael, go to Dom, give him whatever information he needs about the layout of this shithole. Tell him I'm going to want to blast out that back wall," he ordered as small glimmer of hope wormed its way back into his being.

"Hawke, he'll take out Caitlin with a blast like that!" Michael responded back. "That cot's too close to the wall."

"That's why I need you to bring me back a rope and grappling hook from Airwolf. That cot frame doesn't appear to be anchored to the floor in anyway. If I can hook a leg of it through the bars, you and I should be able to drag it and Caitlin over to this side of the cell, hopefully getting it far enough away from the back wall to keep her safe from the blast. And bring back some stronger flashlights! Now go, Michael! There's no time!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the spy headed back out to the hall to find his way outside. Turning back to the cell, Hawke looked at Caitlin with the smallest spark of hope. "Hang on, baby, I'm here. Just stay with me for a little while longer," he pleaded hoping his words weren't falling on deaf ears.

Within minutes, Michael had given Dom all of the information he had and was on his way back to Hawke with the requested items plus a radio for communication and a blanket. Quickly attaching the hook to the end of the coil of rope that Michael had returned with, Hawke attempted to toss the rope far enough and accurately enough through the bars to get the hook to snare the leg of the cot. After four failed attempts, Hawke's sense of panic was returning. Taking a deep breath to calm his shaking hands and nerves, he tried again, this time feeling the catch of the rope and hearing the scrape of metal against metal as the hook attached itself to the frame.

"Okay, Michael, get behind me and help pull but keep it smooth and steady." Slowly but surely the cot scraped its way across the floor bringing Caitlin closer with every pull until she was close enough that Hawke could reach through the bars and feel for a pulse. "Thatta girl" he said with relief as he felt a weak but steady pulse under his finger tips. However a quick look down to her injured leg caused his concern to immediately return. Her flight suit was saturated with blood and shining the flashlight over the wound he could tell that infection was already setting in. He had also felt the fever emanating off her skin when he felt her pulse.

"Here, take the blanket and cover her with it," Michael instructed as he handed it to Hawke. "It will help keep some of the dust and dirt from the blast off of her."

"Good thinking, Michael," Hawke said as he put it through the bars and covered Cait with it as best he could.

"Michael, stay with her," Hawke instructed as he turned to leave the room. "I'm heading outside so I can get to her as soon as Dom's through the wall. Give him the signal."

Archangel nodded as he pressed the talk button on the radio and told Dom to hit the wall in 10 seconds.

By the time Hawke reached the outside, the smoke and dust from the blast was clearing. He ran directly into the cleared cell calling Caitlin's name. Reaching her side, he pulled the blanket off of her and reached down to pick her up. Behind him he could hear Dom landing Airwolf in the prison yard. Carrying her as gently as he could, Hawke took Caitlin to Airwolf where Dom was already waiting with the door open. Micahel had exited the cell block and met them at the helicopter. Laying Caitlin on the floor behind the engineering console, Hawke sat down beside her, placing her head in his lap as Michael climbed into the co-pilots seat.

"How is she?" Dom asked as he turned to look at Hawke.

"Not good, Dom...get us out of here. We've got to get her to a hospital."

"Take her to the FIRM's clinic," Michael said. "I'll contact them and have doctors standing by."

"Roger," Dom said as he immediately took Airwolf back up and headed towards LA, initiating full turbo as soon as he was able.

Gently stroking her hair, Hawke leaned over and kissed Cait's forehead. "Don't you quit on me now, baby," he whispered to her. "I love you and I need you. Keep fighting, Cait."

_TBC..._

_A/N: Don't worry, I haven't for forgotten Stone. I'll explain what's happened to him and how Dom was able to get Airwolf back in the next chapter or two. I figured at this point Hawke was more worried about Cait than asking about Stone. He'll get there eventually though :) _

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	18. Chapter 18

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 18**

Within the hour, Dom was setting Airwolf down outside the FIRM clinic where doctors were already standing by to take care of Caitlin. After a quick examination they had rushed her into surgery to remove the bullet and try to repair as much of the damage that had been done to her leg as possible. Two hours after their arrival, Dom, Hawke and Michael were all still pacing nervously in the waiting room for any news.

Hoping to keep Hawke's mind off of how long the surgery was taking, Michael decided it might be a good time to ask Dom about how he had managed to retrieve Airwolf so quickly.

"We probably have Zeus to thank for that, actually," Dom said.

"Really? Zeus? Well I'm sure anything he did to help get Airwolf back into my hands was purely accidental," Hawke said with a sneer.

"You're probably right there, kid!" Dom agreed.

"So what happened, Dominic?" Michael asked somewhat impatiently.

"All I know is that Stone was doing exactly what Hawke had figured he would do and was flying directly for Russian airspace. There were about dozen of us FA-18s from Edwards following directly behind him, just waiting to make our move. However we were hanging back just enough so Stone had no idea we were there and since I was able to provide Airwolf's communication frequencies to them, we were also monitoring his radio transmissions, " Dom explained as he walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of the steaming brew.

Turning back to Hawke and Michael, he continued. "About 125 miles out of Russian Airspace, Stone received an incoming transmission originating from the Russian government channels. He was told to turn it around, he was being refused permission to enter any Russian fly zone."

Dom took a sip of his coffee and then chuckled. "You could tell from his reaction that Stone was pretty surprised that the Russian government even knew he was there. We quickly learned that Zeus had contacted Russian Intelligence to let them know that a "rogue chopper" was headed their way. He also let them know that we had a large contingency of fighters armed and ready to take down any Russian aircraft that attempted to assist Stone in anyway and that unless they wanted to start World War III, they better cooperate and work with us to keep Stone out. We'd be responsible for taking care of our own."

"Pretty gutsy move on Zeus' part," Michael stated. "But contrary to popular belief, even for all of their threats and grandstanding, most Russian officials don't want to start another war either. Neither side would benefit. Zeus knows that we do have a few sympathetic allies in their government and must have contacted them; although, I would dare say that he used up a lot of favors on this one. Zeus is not going to be happy about that which I have to assume is not going to bode well for me in our next budget meeting."

"Somehow you'll manage, Michael. You always do," Hawke said as he stole a glance at the clock on the wall and then slid down into one of the chairs that lined the wall.

"Yeah, well anyways, as soon as he was refused entrance, Stone suddenly had nowhere to go and had no choice but to rethink his whole plan," Dom continued his story. "Like you said, Hawke, he wasn't doing a great job flying Airwolf either so he immediately looked for a place to take her down. We notified ground forces of where he was headed and they took him into custody as soon as he landed. They had me there minutes later and I turned around to head back to you guys with The Lady."

"So where's Stone now?" Hawke asked as he looked to Michael.

"Being held in a lock down facility the FIRM has until we can decide which agency gets him," Michael said.

"I hope you're keeping him under constant surveillance," Hawke said. "He'll go down like his father given the chance and that's too easy for that bastard."

"24-7," Michael confirmed.

"And I expect you to hold him until I can see him face to face," Hawke said. "I don't give a damn any longer what the hell happened to his father, he lost all sympathy from me when he laid a hand on Caitlin. I want my chance with him."

Before Michael could respond the door to the waiting room swung open and a surgical scrub clad doctor entered the room wearing a serious expression.

Hawke immediately stood and crossed to the man. "How is she?" was his only succinct question.

"She's alive," the doctor answered back, the stern look never leaving his face. "We've done all we can to repair the damage but it was quite severe. Not to mention she'd lost a huge amount of blood. We had quite the time just keeping her strong enough to make it through the surgery."

"What are you saying, Doc?" Dom asked as he came up behind String and put a supportive hand on his shoulder.

Taking a deep breath , the doctor reached up and wearily pulled the surgical cap off his head, as he looked to the men standing before him. "What I'm saying is that I just don't know. She's in recovery and we're still supplementing blood and platelets. Now we just have to wait and hope her body has enough strength to keep fighting off the infection and to bring her the rest of the way back. If she makes it through the next 12 hours, then I believe her chances will increase exponentially. "

"That's it?!" Hawke responded with great frustration and anger. "We're just supposed to sit and WAIT? I thought you said these were the best doctors you had, Michael!"

"Hawke, settle down. They are the best and I'm sure that everything humanly possible has been done for Caitlin," the spy tried to assure him.

"Yeah, String," Dominic interjected. "Caitlin just needs a little more rest, that's all. She knows you're waiting on her, she'll come through this, I'm sure," Dom said probably trying to convince himself as much as anyone else.

Nodding his head, Hawke ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, Doc," he said as he turned looked up sheepishly at the surgeon.

"No problem, Mr. Hawke. I understand how frustrating this can be. Why don't you give us about 20 minutes to get her settled and then I'll tell the nurses to let you in to sit with her. Talk to her, Mr. Hawke, it's proven scientific fact that some patients can hear you even when in a coma. From what Archangel's told us about the two of you, hearing your voice may be the best medicine we can give her right now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to check on her. I'll send a nurse when we're ready for you."

"Thanks, Doctor," Hawke said as he shook the man's hand. As String watched the man leave, the events of the past 24 hours and his body's realization that he hadn't slept in at least as long, washed over Hawke and Dom caught him just as he started to crumble to the floor.

"C'mon kid," Dom said as he and Michael half walked, half drug him over to the nearest chair. "don't give up on us now. Caitlin needs you. Michael, why don't you get him some water?" Dom knew that Hawke needed sleep but he also knew that he would refuse to leave until he could see Caitlin. His best bet was to get the nurses to put a cot in Cait's room and hopefully String would sleep there.

Michael came back over and handed a glass of water to Hawke. Hawke reached out and took a few sips before handing it back. "I'm okay," he said weakly. "I just need to see her."

"No, you're not," Michael said as he took a good look at the obviously frightened man that sat before him. "Is there anything else I can do?" he asked with genuine compassion.

Looking up at the two men next to him, Hawke surprised even himself with his answer. "Pray."

_TBC….._

_A/N: Wow this is turning into a real epic but I can't seem to stop __ There are probably at least another 3 or 4 chapters on this one so I hope you're willing to stay tuned. _


	19. Chapter 19

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 19**

Hawke had wanted nothing more than to see Caitlin but when the nurse showed him to her room he found himself hesitating outside her door. She was alive, that was true. But for how long? Hawke didn't know if he could handle watching someone else he loved die if Cait wasn't strong enough to make it.

"You're not doing her any good standing out here, String," Dom said as he came up behind his surrogate son.

"Maybe I wouldn't be doing her much good in there either," Hawke said as he turned and leaned his back against the wall to support himself.

"Oh, poppycock, String!," Dom said as he huffed and put his hands on his hips.

"Dom, I'm serious," Hawke said as he looked the older man in the eye. "Cait's had nothing but trouble since she met me. She's been kidnapped, almost raped by Bogan's men, almost blown up by a bomb…do I have to go on? I could you know. And now she's lying barely alive in a hospital bed because she was shot and almost bled to death because of me. Maybe I'm the LAST thing she needs in her life."

"String, listen to me, Hell, listen to yourself. Caitlin's ALMOST been a lot of things but yet here she is, still fighting and still in love with you. It's true, we've all been through Hell the past few years. The responsibility of Airwolf is very heavy and we've all had to learn to deal with it. But you know something, kid? Every time something's happened, Cait's come back. Not because she was forced to or even because we asked her to…because she WANTED to. This is where she wants to be and you, String, are who she wants to be with. Can't you get that through your stubborn head of yours?"

"I want to be with her too, Dom, more than anything. I love her." Hawke said forcefully, his voice turning angry at the situation he'd been put into. "But all my love ever seems to get her is hurt. I can't watch her suffer any more and I'm sure as hell not going to be the cause of it. Don't you see, leaving is the one way to show her how much I really love her. It's the one thing I have to do if I really care about her." Hanging his head, Hawke pushed himself off the wall and came to stand right in front of his mentor. "It's over, Dom. I'll always love her but she'll be better off with someone else." Hanging his head, Hawke turned and started back down the hallway.

"Coward!" Dom yelled after Hawke as he watched him retreat down the corridor.

The word caused Hawke to stop in his tracks. After a few seconds he turned to look at Dom who was staring back him with the angriest expression Hawke had ever witnessed on the older man's face.

"Excuse me?" Hawke responded.

"You heard me, String!" Dom said as he started to walk towards the younger man. "I never thought I'd ever say or even think it but dammit, String, you're nothing more than a selfish coward. I'm ashamed of you."

"_I'm ashamed of you." _ String never thought that four little words could ever hurt so much. But hearing them coming from the man who was as much a father to him as his own father had been, if not more, hurt him more than any bullet or punch ever could have. Stringfellow Hawke didn't give a damn what almost anyone thought about him but Dom was different. Almost everything Hawke had ever done was to make either his brother, St. John, or Dom proud of him. To hear Dominic Santini say that he was ashamed of him was painful down to his very soul.

Taking String's stunned silence as his usual stubbornness, Dom continued. He hated talking to Hawke like this, but he had to get through to him. "Dammit all to Hell, String, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't just run away up to your cabin or shut yourself off from the rest of the world every time something bad happens? Believe it or not, bad things are still going to happen whether you're around or not!"

"And another thing," Dom said as he came face to face and toe to toe with Hawke, "maybe if you'd stop long enough to stop worrying about how all of this affects YOU and start thinking about that woman in there instead you'd realize what a fool you're being. No matter what you think, String, this is NOT about YOU. Yet all I keep hearing you say is "I" this and "me" that. Well you better pull your head out of your backside and start thinking about someone else!"

The two men stood staring each other down for several seconds after Dom's tirade until Hawke couldn't take it anymore and cut his eyes away. "Are you finished?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, I think so," Dom said with a curt nod. "Unless of course you need me to keep pounding some more sense into that hard head of yours, I know how thick it can be sometimes," he added with a slight grin.

Hawke looked back at Dom and chuckled in spite of himself. He could never stay mad at him for long, especially when he knew that every word Dom had said was right. "You know, no one else on earth could have gotten away with what you just did," Hawke said, "At least not without finding themselves on their ass."

"Actually that's not true. I know of a certain red-head that has been known to put you in your place a time or two when needed," Dom said, now with a full-blown smile covering his face. "I was just doing what she would have done if she could."

"You know, you're probably right," Hawke agreed with a twinkle in his eye. "I guess I better go see her before she wakes up and comes after me, too. I don't think I could take both the wrath of a Santini and a n O'Shannessy in one day. That might be tempting the fates, huh?"

Giving Hawke a hearty clap on the back, Dom let loose with a belly laugh. "You're darn right, kid! Now get in there and talk to that girl. I want her happy and smiling when she wakes up and the only way that's going to happen is if the first thing she sees is you."

Nodding, Hawke started to make his way back to Caitlin's room but stopped and turned around after a few steps. "Thanks, Dom," he said quietly as he looked at the older man with gratitude.

"Any time, son, any time." Dom answered.

_TBC…_

_A/N: Caitlin and Hawke next chapter…I promise! But I just had to get this little scene out. Hawke needs a good reality check every now and then, don't you think?_


	20. Chapter 20

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 20**

Hawke had been sitting at Cait's bedside for hours, holding her hand and talking to her. He was dead tired himself and Dom had followed through on having a cot brought into the room so String could sleep but he had refused to leave Cait's side until he knew she was going to be okay, even if it was only a few feet away in the same room.

What worried Hawke the most was how still Caitlin was as she lay in the hospital bed. Caitlin was always so full of energy and life, even in her sleep she was rarely completely still. Since they had started dating, Hawke loved to lie awake next to her and watch as her face would tell the story of her dreams at night. She often smiled and even laughed softly in her sleep. To see her so still was now very disconcerting. Not to mention how pale she was as a result of the blood loss.

Hawke knew he should keep talking to her but he was honestly running out of things to say. So many of the emotions he was feeling he just didn't have words for. He found himself wishing for his cello, music often being the expression he could use when words failed him. Somehow though, he knew that Cait would understand his silence. She seemed to be able to grasp right from the beginning when he either wouldn't or couldn't talk about something and respected his need for introspection and even brooding. Of course, she would never let it go on too long before dragging him back to the land of the living. Hawke smiled as he remembered how she had once told him, _"It's okay to feel badly, just don't do it for too long," _after a failed attempt to find St. John. Perhaps it was good advice for him now as well. He needed to focus on Cait, not fill the room around her with bad energy.

Hawke rose as the air conditioner in the room kicked on and a blast of air from the vents blew a strand of Cait's hair over her face and into her eyes. Reaching up he gently brushed it back behind her ear as he bent over and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. Pulling back he took a moment to look at her face, the freckles being even more prominent than usual without her usual makeup present to cover them. Even though she often complained about them, Hawke loved her freckles. They always made her seem so innocent and pure, even though he knew that underneath that sweet exterior lay the heart of a sleeping tiger. The juxtaposition of innocence and fierceness was one of the things he so loved about her. He remembered the first time he had realized who she was when he was in the Pope County Jail. The memory of all that toughness wrapped up in such a cute package still made him smile.

Hawke was so caught up in his memories, he didn't even hear her the first time she said his name. "Hawke?" she said again, her voice low and hoarse, her eyes blinking out the bright light of the room.

"Hey, baby," he answered her back with a smile as he perched on the bed next to her and gently stroked her cheek with his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got caught in the middle of a herd of wild horses," Cait rasped. "Where am I?"

Hawke chuckled at her colloquialism. "You're at The FIRM clinic. You've had surgery on your leg to remove the bullet. "

Caitlin grimaced as she tried to reposition herself so she could look down at her leg.

"Are you in pain?" Hawke asked, concern suddenly crossing his face.

"A little," Caitlin admitted although truth be told it hurt like hell.

"I'll have the nurse get you some pain meds," Hawke said as he pressed the call button above the bed knowing that Caitlin wasn't being entirely truthful.

"Hawke, is my leg going to be okay?" Caitlin asked as she noticed the worried look on his face.

Hawke's immediate response was to placate her with false assurances but one look in her eyes and he knew she deserved the truth. "I don't know, baby," he said. "The doctor said there was a lot of damage. We'll just have to wait and see how it heals."

Caitlin was silent for a moment as she thought about the possible implications, the worst being that she wouldn't be able to fly again. A tear rolled down her cheek as she feared that Hawke might not want her anymore if she couldn't be a pilot. Their passion for flying was one of the biggest things they both shared. And then she remembered something even more disturbing, that she'd allowed Stone to take Airwolf. "I'm sorry, String," she said as she hung her head and sobbed.

Lifting her chin with his finger, Hawke made Caitlin look him in the eye. "Sorry? For what, Cait?"

"I'm sorry I let this happen. I should have been more aware. Stone should have never been able to get to Airwolf. You trusted me and I let you down and now he's got Airwolf and I'm lying here useless."

"No, baby, we didn't lose Airwolf. Dom got her back, it's how we got you here. As for everything else, it's me that should be sorry for getting you into this whole mess to begin with. I was supposed to be protecting you from Stone and I failed. You're here because I let you down."

Caitlin shook her head. "You could never let me down, String. You saved me, didn't you? When Stone locked me in that cell, I thought it was over. I didn't know what had happened to you down in Sonora and I thought I'd be left in that prison to die. I should have known you'd find me," she said with a slight smile.

"I'll always find you, Caitlin," Hawke said as he leaned in and kissed her tenderly. "I need you and I love you, I just wish you knew how much. I'm glad we got Airwolf back but even if we hadn't, I would have been okay with that as long as I had you." Taking her in his arms he pulled her close and just held her tightly.

When he finally let go, Cait had to ask the question she had been afraid to ask. "Hawke, what about Stone?"

"He's in The FIRM's custody, Cait. It's okay, he can't hurt any of us anymore. "

"Have you seen him?" Caitlin asked knowing that Hawke wouldn't be satisfied until he could confront the man face to face.

"Not yet," was Hawke's only answer.

"And when you do?"

Hawke stood and walked across the room. "I don't know Cait. I want to see him dead for what he's done, especially for hurting you and leaving you do die like he did but I can't do that. But I do need to see him. In spite of everything, I still know that all of this started with what happened back in Vietnam, with things that should never have taken place. There has to be some kind of closure to all of this but I don't know if even Stone can give us that."

Cait frowned as she looked at Hawke staring out the window. She couldn't help but notice how exhausted and mentally drained he appeared. This whole ordeal had evidently taken a pretty big toll on him. Before she could say anything however, a nurse entered the room carrying a syringe and a vial.

"Ms. O'Shannessy, I'm going to put a little morphine into your IV, that should help with your pain," the nurse explained as she readied the syringe. "It'll probably make you pretty sleepy as well."

"Thanks," Caitlin responded. "Could you do one other thing for me?"

"Sure."

"Can you please make sure that Mr. Hawke here gets some rest too? Even if you have to hog tie him to a bed?"

"If it's your bed, there'll be no tie downs necessary," Hawke said with a grin and a wink to Cait.

"Very funny," she quipped back. "I mean it, Hawke. I bet you haven't slept a wink since we left the cabin. You're going to drop of exhaustion any minute now."

"I know, Cait. They brought a cot in here for me earlier but I just couldn't sleep until I knew you were okay. I promise I'll make use of it as soon as you drift back off. Okay?" Hawke walked back across the room and picked up Caitlin 's hand as he spoke to her.

Satisfied that the couple seemed to have reached a compromise, the nurse smiled and left the room.

Hawke looked at Caitlin and could tell that the morphine was already working as her eyelids began to grow heavy. "Sure you don't want to take me up of sharing that bed with you?" he asked with a grin.

"Uh-uh," Caitlin mumbled. "Next time I get you into bed, I want to be fully awake," she said with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan," he said with a laugh as he gave her a quick kiss and watched her drift off to sleep.

When Dom entered the room several hours later, Hawke was still in a chair at her bedside, holding her hand and snoring softly, a look of pure contentment on his face.

_TBC…_


	21. Chapter 21

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 21**

3 Days Later:

Hawke was surprised to find Dom and Cait in what appeared to be a somewhat heated argument when he entered her hospital room carrying a vase full of daisies. In the few days since her surgery, Caitlin had been improving at great strides and her old feistiness was definitely coming back.

Sensing the interruption, Cait looked over at Hawke and laughed. "More flowers?" she said as she shook her head. "Hawke, if you bring me any more I'm going to have to get another room just to hold them all!" she said as she looked around at a least a half dozen other vases that decorated her room.

"I could take them back," he said as he turned to leave.

"Don't you dare, Stringfellow Hawke!" she said as she held out her hands to take the vase from him. "They're beautiful."

Handing over the vase with a smile and a quick kiss, Hawke looked to Dom who still seemed a little miffed. "So, I evidently interrupted something. What's up with you two?"

"String, you need to talk some sense into that girlfriend of yours," Dom said as he put his hands on his hips. "Only a couple days out of major surgery and she keeps trying to talk shop with me. Tell her she needs to be resting and not hounding me about those invoices again!"

"Oh come on, Dom, " Caitlin spoke up, her voice tinged with obvious frustration. "I'm going out of my mind from boredom here and if I have to watch one more stupid soap opera I will go crazy. Not to mention that if we don't do something about getting those invoices paid I'm not going to have a job to go back to! Tell him Hawke!"

Backing away from the bed, Hawke just shook his head. "Nope, not me. I told you before you two would have to work this out on your own, I'm out of it!"

"Chicken!" both Dom and Cait said in unison as they looked at Hawke. The response seemed to break the tension and both of them broke into laughter.

"Well if you two are finished ganging up on me now, I need Dom anyways," Hawke said as the laughter died down.

"Sure, what's up kid?" Dom asked.

"Well with Caitlin feeling better," Hawke said as he came back over to the bed and took her hand, "I figured it was time to go and have a little chat with Stone. I was hoping you'd come with me."

"Are you sure, Hawke?" Caitlin asked as she looked up at him with concern.

"Yeah, it's time. Michael's not sure how long he's going to be able to keep the FBI and others out of it so if I'm going to see him, it's going to have to be now."

"Do you have to see him at all, String?" Dom asked, his brow furrowed with concern. "Archangel said they got their confessions from him, everything's being put back right with St. John's and the other men's records and families."

"I know, Dom, but I need to hear him say it for myself and he still has to answer in some way for what he did to Caitlin."

"I appreciate that, String, but I don't want you doing something foolish on my account," Caitlin said as she squeezed his hand. "Dom's right, maybe it's just better we let the government deal with Stone. They have more than enough to make him pay for the rest of his life."

Turning to Cait he took bent down and kissed her cheek. "No, Cait, I have to do this. I promise I won't do anything to get myself in trouble but if I'm ever going to get past all of this I need to close the book on Stone myself, see him get what he deserves with my own eyes. Understand?"

Looking deep into Hawke's piercing blue eyes, Caitlin did understand. She knew he'd never truly rest until he'd finished what he started. It was the same sentiment that kept him so driven in his search for his brother.

"I understand, String. And you know I'll be here waiting for you two when you get back. Just be careful, okay?"

"Why do you think I'm taking Dom?" Hawke said with a grin. "He'll keep my head on straight."

"You're darn tootin' I will!" Dom said with his own gap-toothed grin. "Cmon kid, let's go before this little gal here starts talking about those damn invoices again!" Dom slapped his Santini Air ball cap on his head and headed for the door.

"We'll be back first thing tomorrow morning, I promise," Hawke said to Caitlin. "Want me to bring you anything when I come?"

"Just you," she responded with a smile.

_TBC…_

_Sorry for the super short chapter but I needed a bridge to get to the meeting with Stone and, honestly, I've got two different ideas in my head about which way to go with the next chapter and I have to make up my mind. We'll have to see what the muse decides _


	22. Chapter 22

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 22**

Arriving at the holding facility, Hawke was led down a corridor to a room that he guessed was normally used for interrogations of suspects. There was a two- way mirror that covered one wall and it was sparsely furnished with a single table and three chairs. There was no window and a single light bulb was the only source of light. Hawke would be allowed to meet with Stone by himself in the room although an armed guard, Michael and Dominic would be watching through the mirror.

"Don't do anything stupid, kid," Dom had warned him as they reached the door. "Just remember, Caitlin's waiting for you to come back and if you have even a scratch, she'll have my head," he said with a grin as he patted Hawke on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Dom. Stone's not worth it. I just need to see him, to get this all behind me once and for all. As for what he did to Caitlin, knowing he's rotting in a jail cell like the one he locked her in for the rest of his miserable life works for me."

With a quick nod showing he was satisfied with String's answer, Dom entered the viewing room while the guard opened the metal door to the meeting room for Hawke and let him in. Stone was already standing across from him on the far side of the room, the table separating them, when Hawke entered. His hands were cuffed in front and he wore ankle chains that allowed him just enough room to shuffle-walk when needed.

"Mr. Hawke," Stone said coldly as he kept his back turned to the door and the pilot. "If I'm not mistaken, that was Airwolf I heard you land outside a few minutes ago. Of course they won't let me have a window in this god-forsaken place so I'm just guessing."

"Turn around , Stone," Hawke ordered as he took a few steps further into the room. "I know you're a coward but at least face me like a man. You're father at least had that much pride."

Hawke could tell that the mention of Stone's father caused him to tense and the man did indeed turn around, anger radiating from his eyes. "Don't you dare mention my father again!"

"Why not, Stone? Your father, unlike you, was an honorable man. I don't agree with how he chose to end his life, but I at least understand it. It's probably a good thing he's not here, I'm sure he'd be ashamed by everything you've done in his name. It's you that's ruined his reputation, Stone, not me."

Stone, filled with rage at Hawke's words, suddenly lunged at the pilot. In the viewing room, the guard began to head out but Michael stopped him with a hand on his arm and a stern look. "Let them be. Hawke can take care of himself and Stone's in shackles, he can't do too much damage."

And Michael was right. As Stone attempted to lunge across the table, his legs were stopped by the chains and he instead fell, face first on the floor at Hawke's feet. "God, You are a disgrace, Stone," Hawke said as he looked down at the crumpled man and then walked away from him without offering any assistance to help him up off the floor.

Turning over, Stone forced himself back up and was able to get himself into one of the chairs. Looking up at the pilot, his nose bloodied and face scratched from the fall, Stone began to laugh uncontrollably.

"You find this funny, Stone?" Hawke asked as he leaned against the back wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because I find facing the death penalty or life in prison for four murders and one attempted murder to be no laughing matter but maybe I'm missing something. "

Stone's laughing stopped as abruptly as it had started. "Ah, one attempted murder. I guess that means you got to Red in time, huh? Nobody's told me a thing in this hell-hole. Well she was a feisty one. I'm just sorry I didn't have more time to spend with her. A little personal time with that one would have been fun."

Hawke's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as he listened to Stone. "The only thing keeping you alive right now, Stone, is the fact that she did make it and that you didn't touch her. "

"Hmmm, hit a sensitive spot with that one there, didn't I?" Stone said with an evil grin as he looked at Hawke. Should have known you would have claimed that little piece of sweetness for yourself. I guess I should have thought twice about keeping her and turning her over to the Russians. Oh the fun my comrades would have had with her. They don't get too many redheads in their neck of the woods."

Suddenly it was Hawke's turn to laugh. "You couldn't even get yourself over to the Commies," Hawke said as he pushed himself off the wall. Walking up to the chair that Stone was in, Hawke leaned over and came almost nose to nose with the criminal. "As for Caitlin, she's got more integrity, brains and strength in her little finger than you've ever even thought of having and if I ever hear that you've so much as mumbled her name in your sleep or even thought about her again, I won't be content on just leaving you to rot on in a cold, damp jail cell somewhere. You got that, Stone?" As Hawke straightened back up, he took his foot and kicked over Stone's chair causing it to tumble backwards and take Stone back to the floor.

Once again the guard in the viewing room started to head towards the interrogation room only to be stopped by Dominic this time. "Don't you dare go in there and save that piece of trash. Hawke's doing just fine." The guard looked to Michael who just nodded his agreement.

"You know, Stone, I'm beginning to wonder why I even came here. You're a waste of my time. " Turning towards the mirror, Hawke motioned to the men on the other side. "Get me the hell out of here, Michael . I have more important people to be spending my time on than this piece of garbage!"

"You may have think you beat me, Hawke, but you're wrong," Stone said as he propped himself up against the wall.

"What the hell are you talking about , Stone?" Hawke said as he turned just in time to see Stone put something in his mouth. "NO!" he yelled as he dove for the man. At the same time the door opened and the guard rushed in with Dom and Michael right behind.

Grabbing Stone by the collar, Hawke shook him. "Spit it out, dammit! You don't get out of it this easy!"

"String, what is it?" Dom yelled.

"Cyanide!" Hawke yelled back.

Stone started laughing as Hawke let go and shoved him back against the wall realizing it was too late. "Just like my daddy, I'm going out my way Hawke. You don't get to decide. I'm just sorry I didn't get to take you with me." With those final words, Stone slumped over and was gone.

"Mother of God," Dom whispered under his breath.

"C'mon Dom, let's get the hell out of here," Hawke said as kicked a chair out of his way in frustration and walked out of the room.

_TBC…_

_A/N: So, did you see that coming? Probably only a couple of more chapters until the end of this one _


	23. Chapter 23

**Brothers in Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only_.

**Chapter 23**

Dom followed as Hawke stalked out to Airwolf. Once there, Hawke stopped and smacked the side of the helicopter in frustration.

"Hey, no need to take it out on our baby, String," Dom said as he came up and used the sleeve of his flight suit to polish off the spot Hawke had just assaulted. "You okay, kid?" Dom said as he turned back around to face the younger man.

Instead of answering Dom, Hawke turned on Michael who had just walked up behind him. "Dammit, Michael! How in the hell did Stone get a cyanide pill in there? I thought you guys did a thorough search when you took him into custody. You knew he was a suicide risk."

"We did search him, Hawke, but nobody expected this," the spy said as he held out his hand, palm up.

"What is that?" Dom said as he walked around String to take a look at the small item that Michael was holding.

"A false tooth. It's been hollowed out inside and used to store the pill until needed," Michael shook his head in wonder as he, himself, stared at the object. "I'd heard stories of this being done by some of the Nazi soldiers back during Hitler's reign but I'd never actually seen one. It was always considered kind of an urban legend."

"Mama Mia! I wonder how long he'd been carrying that around?" Dom asked.

"Probably since he came down to Sonora to get Airwolf, would be my guess," Hawke said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry for taking your head off, Michael. I can understand how that would be missed. But it's just too damn easy. He would have suffered a lot more sitting in a jail cell somewhere. Would have been a much more fitting ending for him in my mind."

"Well what's done is done, String," Dom said as he put an arm around Hawke's shoulders. "The important thing is that he can't hurt any of us any more and the families of your other team members will get the military benefits and honors their loved ones deserved."

"And St. John's name is being completely cleared as well, Hawke," Michael informed them. "I spoke with General Harrington at the Central Identification Laboratory this morning and he's personally guaranteeing that Sinjin's record is set straight."

"Thanks, Michael, I appreciate that," Hawke said. "I need one more favor if you don't mind."

"You know I'll do whatever I can, String," Michael answered.

"The others, Billy Cargill and all of them, I want to make sure they are buried in Arlington with the full works - fly-overs, color guards, whatever. They were good men, Michael, and they each gave everything for this country and long after it was even asked of them. And find out about their kids, I want to see if I can help set up some kind of trust funds for them. Okay?"

"You got it, Hawke. I'll get my staff on it as soon as I get back to Knightsbridge."

"That's nice, kid," Dom said with a smile. "Put me down to contribute to those funds. Now, I know of a certain little lady who's probably missing her own guy about now. What do you say we get back to Caitlin and start getting things back to normal?"

"I don't think we do normal, Dom," Hawke said with a laugh, "but you're right. Let's get out of this place and put Stone behind us for good."

**The End (sort of)**

_A/N: a super short chapter to tie up loose ends. However there will be one more chapter...an epilogue because I think this story needs one more Hawke and Cait interlude to round it out. So stay tuned for just a little while longer. _

_I also have to take this chance to say how grateful and humble I am for the over 100 reviews! WOW! My muse and I thank you. I think this is the longest story I have ever written (for any fandom) and it's been a real joy to write. I'm so glad that you have enjoyed it as well. A response like this ensures that there will be more adventures for Hawke and Cait and Dom to come from me. Thanks again for all of your support :) _

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	24. Chapter 24

**Brothers In Arms**

_A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

**Chapter 24 - Epilogue**

6 weeks later - The Cabin

Hawke watched with a close eye from the porch as Caitlin walked slowly but steadily back towards the cabin with Tet protectively at her side. She had been out of the hospital for almost 5 weeks and every day she seemed to be regaining a little more of her strength and stamina. However she was still walking with a cane and a very noticeable limp. When she had insisted on taking her daily walk on her own earlier that morning, Hawke had been very reluctant to let her go but the doctor had insisted that she needed to keep working her injured leg and Caitlin always said the fresh air made her feel better. As for doing it alone, Hawke knew that she needed to prove to herself that she could and she needed to start regaining confidence in her healing process. It would be another month before she would be released to pilot a helicopter and she needed to know that she was at her fullest capabilities when that time came.

As she approached the steps, Hawke came down to meet her as he held out his arm for her to take. "I hope you'll at least let me help you up the steps or is that famous red-headed stubborn streak going to get offended?" he asked with a stern look but a sparkle in his eye. While he had been extremely worried about her for the whole 30 minutes she'd been gone, he was also very proud of her.

"I'd be offended if you DIDN'T ask, " she responded with a smile of her own as she took his arm.

"So how was your walk?" Hawke asked with a little concern as he noticed the beads of perspiration on her brow.

"Okay, I guess. I just wish I wouldn't get so tired so quickly," Caitlin said as she took a seat on the porch bench. Reaching down she absent mindedly rubbed her thigh where it was throbbing from the exertion.

"Well the doctor said that was normal. And you are getting stronger every day. I know patience isn't among your many virtues but I don't think you have a choice here." Hawke put his arm around her shoulders as he sat next to her and pulled her close, dropping a quick kiss on her temple.

Turning to look at him with a grin, Caitlin chuckled. "What do you mean patience isn't one of my virtues? I waited over two years for you to come to your senses, didn't I?" she said as she poked him lightly in his side.

"Yeah I guess you did at that but somehow I think you kind of enjoyed the challenge and the chase. And after all, look at the prize you received at the end. I think it was well worth it, don't you?" He teased with a mischevious grin.

"Hmmm, well I might have to think about that," Caitlin answered. "I mean here I am with a man who is stubborn, insanely over-protective, solitary to a fault, doesn't eat red meat, is constantly flying dangerous and crazy missions for a government agency in a top-secret, souped-up helicopter that he tells everyone doesn't' exist and who has dragged me up here to live at a mountain cabin in the middle of nowhere," she said as she counted off the traits on her fingers.

"Yeah, so what are the negatives?" Hawke shot back with a wink.

"That I love him so much I can hardly stand it sometimes," Caitlin said as she leaned back into his arms and smiled contentedly. "That when you hold me like this I never want to be without you, not even for a second. That I lose myself in your kisses."

"Hmmm, sounds like things we might need to work on," Hawke said as he lovingly caressed her arms. "I've heard that the best thing to do is to face your faults head on. I think maybe some more of those kisses might be the trick…you know, just to get you used to those things. After all, you're going to have to deal with them for a very long time." Gently pushing her from his arms Hawke stood and then turned back around, bending down and picking her up off the bench.

"Since when did you get so smart about these things?" Caitlin said as he carried her through the doorway and towards the steps to the loft.

"Since a certain red-headed, freckle-faced, stubborn -as-I-am, pilot taught me a few things," Hawke said as he continued to carry her up the steps.

"Hmmm, I'll have to thank that pilot," Caitlin teased.

"Don't worry, I'm about to show her just how thankful I really am," Hawke said as he laid her on the bed. "Unless of course she's still too tired."

"Suddenly I seem to be getting my second wind," Caitlin said with a grin as she pulled Hawke onto the bed beside her.

**The End!**


End file.
